Inside Apollo’s US$110 billion infrastructure investment push

Please note this interview was recorded Friday 23 January, 2026

One of the quirks of Australian investors is our love of infrastructure. It is rooted in our mining heritage - a comfort with big, nation-building projects - and our thirst for long-term income generation. The Aussie version of Jerry Maguire would shout, “Show me the dividend!”

We are also uniquely endowed with natural advantages. From the iron ore of the Pilbara to the copper, gold, and uranium of Olympic Dam, and from the winds that sweep across the coastline to the sun that reliably shines on our vast interior, the country is rich in the raw ingredients required for the next phase of global infrastructure and energy development.

Those strengths place Australia squarely in the middle of a once-in-a-generation infrastructure and energy transition that is unfolding not just locally but globally, particularly in the United States. Few investors have a clearer vantage point on that transformation than Olivia Wassenaar, Partner and Head of Sustainability and Infrastructure at Apollo Global Management.

Apollo is one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, with around US$1 trillion in assets under management, and a rapidly growing footprint in long-dated, capital-intensive infrastructure assets. Over the past five years alone, the firm has invested roughly US$110 billion in infrastructure and around US$80 billion in energy transition and clean investments. 

That activity is already evident in Australia. During 2025, Apollo deployed more than A$3 billion across domestic credit opportunities, including a structured A$500 million delayed-draw subordinated note issuance for Ampol (ASX: ALD). The transaction helped Australia and New Zealand’s largest fuel distributor refinance upcoming maturities while funding its acquisition of EG Group’s fuel retail network. Apollo’s flexible sub-debt solution was designed to support Ampol’s growth ambitions while maintaining a favourable balance sheet profile, underscoring the role private capital can play when traditional financing is less adaptable.

Globally, Apollo is pursuing similarly large-scale, capital-intensive opportunities. In energy transition, it provided £4.5 billion of financing to Électricité de France (EDF), including support for the Hinkley Point C nuclear project. In digital infrastructure, Apollo acquired a majority stake in Stream Data Centres, gaining exposure to more than 4GW of powered land, and delivered a US$3.5 billion capital solution for data centre compute assets. Grid infrastructure has also been a focus, with a €3.2 billion joint venture alongside RWE - Germany’s largest power producer and a global leader in renewable power generation - for a 25.1% stake in Germany’s Amprion, which serves around 29 million people.

As Wassenaar explains, the investment opportunity is being driven by a fundamental reset of the systems that underpin modern economies:

“We are rethinking and rebuilding systems that came together over centuries, and we're having to do it over a matter of decades. 

Whether you're thinking about transportation, electricity demand or how we use power for industry... the world's changing and we're having to adapt to it.”

In the interview above, Wassenaar unpacks the forces behind the new industrial age, the surge in global power demand, how Apollo is financing 20-30-year infrastructure assets, and why Australia remains a compelling destination for long-term capital.

INTERVIEW SUMMARY

A new industrial age for infrastructure

Wassenaar describes today’s environment as one defined by urgency. Infrastructure systems that evolved slowly over centuries are now being rebuilt under compressed timelines, driven by shifts in technology, industrial demand, and energy consumption.

Electricity sits at the centre of that change. Global power consumption is rising after decades of relative flatness, and demand is increasingly disconnected from where energy is produced. The rapid growth of data centres, industrial hubs, and electrification is forcing a rethink of how grids are built and financed.

“Global electricity consumption is rising,” she says. 

“Thinking about where energy is needed versus where energy is produced,  when you put them together, really create a tremendous global need for building out new electricity sources, new data sources, in some cases, new roads, new industrial centres.”

For Apollo, infrastructure remains clearly defined. Wassenaar jokes that the firm’s internal test is simple: “If you kick it, it hurts.” It is a reminder that infrastructure assets are tangible, essential, and deeply embedded in the real economy.

Ageing grids and the power problem

A central challenge in both the US and Australia is the condition of existing power grids. According to Wassenaar, investment has lagged demand for decades.

“Depending on how you look at it, we're probably decades past where we needed to be on grid updates,” she says.

That underinvestment collides with a rapid shift in where power is required, particularly as renewable generation expands and energy must be transported across larger distances. Grid reliability, storage, and transmission are now as important as generation itself.

The result is a massive pipeline of required capital expenditure, and one that cannot be delayed without economic consequences. That, of course, creates opportunities that investors can participate in. 

Financing a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity

The scale of the opportunity is difficult to overstate. Wassenaar estimates that AI-related power demand alone represents around US$4.5 trillion of investment this decade.

“It’s a number so far above where we've seen capital deployed in other areas,” she says.

That demand is already reshaping markets. In some US regions, hyperscalers are being told to “bring your own power” as existing systems struggle to cope with load growth and price pressures.

Crucially, Wassenaar argues that Apollo’s focus on power infrastructure does not hinge solely on AI. Even if AI demand undershoots expectations, structural electrification provides a powerful backstop.

“There are so many different uses of power and industrial demand,” she says, highlighting that regardless of whether or not AI shows up to the degree that people expect, energy demand is not going to recede. 

Whilst nothing is without risk, ever-increasing energy demand creates a level of downside protection, which is critical given the scale and long-dated nature of the investments. 

Apollo’s acquisition of a large US hydro portfolio reflects that thinking. Many of the assets are close to a century old, notes Wassenaar, offering base-load green power with opportunities for incremental upgrades to boost output.

Storage, batteries, and smoothing intermittency

Beyond generation, Wassenaar highlights energy storage as a critical enabler of the transition. Battery storage, in particular, has moved from concept to deployment.

“I've been a big proponent of battery storage for many years,” she says. “It smooths intermittency.”

In December 2024, acquired a 50% stake in a 2 gigawatt (GW) Texas-based solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio from TotalEnergies. According to Wassenaar, the appeal lies not only in stabilising renewable supply, but also in flexibility.

“Batteries are modular,” Wassenaar explains. “As long as you have the land and the interconnect, they can be built in a really modular way.”

Looking ahead, she sees long-duration batteries as the next breakthrough - moving beyond today’s four-hour systems toward 12- and 24-hour storage that could fundamentally reshape power markets.

Australia, income, and long-dated capital

Australia remains a key area of focus for Apollo, which has had a presence in the market since 2018. Wassenaar sees strong parallels with the US, from grid constraints to renewable intermittency and the transition away from coal.

She also notes something more cultural: “I also love that Australians love infrastructure.”

That affinity matters because infrastructure assets align naturally with the long-dated capital Apollo deploys

“These tend to be long-dated assets, assets with a yield or a dividend coming off them over time,” she says. 

“You’re thinking about financing them very differently.”

For income-focused Australian investors, the appeal is clear: essential assets, durable cash flows, and exposure to one of the largest capital investment cycles in decades.