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Australia most sought after for investors: White & Case
Global law firm White & Case has just released its inaugural APAC infrastructure report, which showed that Australia tops the region for future investment opportunities.
Emma Musgrave
According to the report, 54 per cent of investors surveyed said they're looking to Australia for infrastructure investment over the next year, with respondents labelling the opportunities in the country as "healthy, stable and reliable", and that the country has "trusted legal frameworks" and "decent investment track records".
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India was the country next eyed after, with 48 per cent of respondents saying its a key location for investment opportunities. Meanwhile, China was selected by 39 per cent of respondents and Malaysia was selected by 36 per cent.
Forty-one per cent of respondents also selected Australia as being the country investors are most excited about in terms of future opportunities beyond the next year. This was followed by Singapore, which 32 per cent of respondents selected, and India, which 28 per cent of respondents selected.
"Respondents' choices for top investment destinations cut through recent noise about the rise of some developing APAC countries," the White & Case report noted.
"According to our survey, investors will be concentrating their activity on larger, more stable countries such as Australia, India and Singapore.
"APAC countries with perceived higher political/systemic risk such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Vietnam appear to have drifted down the priority list as investment destinations for many investors."
However, despite this, the report noted that for the most part investors see APAC as a "land of opportunity".
"Indeed, when asked about the greatest benefits to investing in the region, opportunity crops up in a number of different guises. Over half see a 'wealth of opportunity'; more than a third envisage 'development of knock-on/secondary opportunities’, and a third are looking forward to the 'consolidation of related opportunities'," White & Case said.
"The research also addresses barriers to investment such as political risk, issues with public private partnerships (PPP) and the threat of trade wars but, overall, the general feeling among respondents is that the significant benefits on offer outweigh any challenges.
"As the director of M&A from a sponsor in Japan says: 'There is plenty of room for growth, development and advancement. There is a complete mismatch in the current infrastructure and the actual need based on the growth these markets are having. The opportunities in these markets are significant'."
