Macquarie Asset Management’s Ani Satchcroft: Mega themes to drive deal outlook

Macquarie Asset Management Co-Head of Infrastructure for Asia-Pacific and Senior Managing Director, Ani Satchcroft, says the nature of being an infrastructure investor means she applies a specific lens to deal markets and transactions as a long-term asset owner. 

In this excerpt from our 2025 ANZ Women In Dealmaking M&A Outlook Report, which features insights from 12 of Australia’s leading female dealmakers, Ani shares her perspective on the infrastructure investment landscape, emphasizing a long-term, value-driven approach, focusing on matching private capital with community needs.

“We’re continuing to see very strong investment in the infrastructure market in Australia and New Zealand, as we have for the last two years. It’s less of a market where we’re turning up to auctions and paying the lowest cost of capital. We’re very focused on investments where we feel we can genuinely match private capital with unmet community needs and where there is a value we can add to those assets. In that context, we continue to be very optimistic about the market for the next 12 months,” Ani says.

There is a particular need for private capital investment in digital infrastructure. “We invest across that digital infrastructure ecosystem, all the way from data registries to fibre networks and data centres. We continue to see a real need for that as people continue to generate, store and move data,” she notes.

Ani says the energy transition requires a large amount of investment, including around grid resiliency and grid coverage, which continues to be an important area for Macquarie Asset Management. Demographics is another mega trend that will drive deal flow in 2025. 

“Growing, aging and increasingly urban populations impact the way communities interact with infrastructure, much of which has been traditionally provided by governments,” says Ani.

“When these services are commercialised, private capital can help release government funding for other services, while also adding value through operational and digital transformation to ensure those commercialized assets are modernised and continue to serve the community reliably and securely for decades.”

Ani says the Australian market is attractive to global investors, but she continues to monitor the local regulatory environment because it’s so important to deal certainty.

“Private capital is global and mobile. A high degree of certainty around an investment being concluded justifies the expenditure of diligence and deal costs. Visibility on timelines also enables us to facilitate smooth transitions of ownership for businesses, their employees and the communities they serve.”

Ani believes there will be more regionalization of infrastructure assets, which involves global investors taking positions in Australian companies and helping them grow.

Reflecting on a ubiquitous theme in capital markets, Ani expects investors’ emphasis on technology to have an impact on three levels. The first is on the investments the funds make, especially in digital infrastructure. The second is in terms of the broader portfolio.

“We have approximately 180 portfolio companies in Macquarie Asset Management globally and AI has a huge impact for every company, in terms of improving processes and enabling assets to interact more productively with communities.”

The third is the way tech influences Ani’s team. “We are continually using more advanced technology tools to speed up processes around due diligence and reporting.”

Macquarie Asset Management has a particular emphasis on due diligence.

“Once the transaction is done, we may own the asset for ten years or more, so we’re about making the right investments. When we do diligence, it’s not just on how a business is likely to perform in 12 months’ time. It’s also about crafting the investment thesis and analysing how the business is going to perform in five, seven or ten years. We’ve always had heightened sensitivity around diligence on the asset management and investment side. It’s different to just purely transactional diligence,” Ani says.

Her team has grown its operational expertise to ensure there is the requisite technical background for her sub sector. “We have spent time thinking about how assets become disrupted. The pace of change, particularly around technology and artificial intelligence, has made that disruption question a little bit harder to answer. It’s an area we spend time on.”

Despite her assets’ immovability, Ani says there are elements of change that could disrupt her portfolio, but that also provides opportunity. “We look for what we can do that’s in our control to enhance the asset and give it another area of growth.”

Reflecting on her career, Ani says she chose infrastructure more than deal making. “I liked the idea I could use my commerce and law degrees to have an impact on communities in a creative way, which you can do at Macquarie. If I can step back and think about where infrastructure is moving to as a sector, make a case for something being a good investment and do it in a responsible and sustainable way, our organisation will support us to help to contribute to those communities.”