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Infrastructure private equity interview questions cover the usual fit and deal questions, plus a technical layer you rarely see in buyout interviews. Expect to explain how an asset earns its revenue, which KPIs drive it, why deals often carry 70% to 80% debt, and how lenders size that debt.
For you, the preparation shifts from corporate LBO mechanics to asset-level cash flows. Most firms also set a short case study or modelling test, so you need to build a contracted cash flow model and sculpt debt quickly.
Infrastructure private equity means buying equity in essential physical assets such as power networks, toll roads, airports, renewables and fibre. Our guide to how infrastructure private equity works covers the strategies and return targets in detail.
Mergers & Inquisitions lists the usual backgrounds for new hires:
Most firms hire off-cycle, when a seat opens. Our piece on what private equity recruiters look for in candidates explains how to position your deal experience.
You will usually face three types of assessment:
The pay and return profile also differs. Mergers & Inquisitions puts infrastructure fund return targets at roughly 8% to 15%, against 20%+ for traditional private equity. It also reports bonuses of about 30% to 50% of base salary, against roughly 100% at a buyout fund.
Start every asset question by naming how the revenue is earned. That classification sets the risk tier, the leverage, the lender’s coverage target and the return you should expect.
Use four buckets:
If you are asked to compare a water utility, an airport and a merchant wind farm, rank them by revenue type first, then discuss growth and exit.
These technical questions come up most often. Each answer below lists the points to cover.
Cover essential services, long asset lives, high barriers to entry and stable, often inflation-linked cash yield. Then show you can tell regulated, availability, contracted and merchant risk apart. Add a current view. McKinsey reports closed-end infrastructure fundraising of nearly $200bn in 2025, up nearly 60% on 2024, with energy and power close to half of deal value and digital and telecom about a quarter.
Mergers & Inquisitions gives these:
Greenfield means a new build. Model construction draws, capitalised interest during construction and a refinancing into permanent debt once the asset operates. Brownfield means an operating asset, so you go straight to operating cash flows and debt sculpting.
Predictable cash flows and long debt tenors of 10 to 15 years or more keep annual debt service low relative to cash flow. Mergers & Inquisitions cites leverage of 70% to 80% or more. Lenders test it with two ratios:
Forvis Mazars notes that contracted infrastructure is commonly sized at a DSCR of around 1.30x, with strong counterparties at 1.20x to 1.35x and merchant revenue at higher targets.
Sculpting sets each period’s principal repayment so the DSCR stays at the target throughout the loan. Breaking Into Wall Street gives the simple version: with $150 of cash flow and a 1.5x DSCR, maximum debt service is $100. Sizing then finds the opening balance: debt equals the present value of CFADS at the debt rate divided by the target coverage.
Use a DCF of asset-level cash flows. Discount equity cash flows at the target equity return, or unlevered cash flows at a WACC. Mergers & Inquisitions sets the terminal value with an exit multiple or perpetuity growth. For a finite concession with no extension, cash flows stop at handback, so the terminal value is zero or the residual value in the contract. Our DCF interview questions guide covers the core valuation mechanics.
Here is an illustrative technical question. Assume a contracted asset with these terms:
Maximum debt service = $15.0m / 1.30 = $11.54m a year
Annuity factor at 6% over 15 years = 9.71
Maximum debt = $11.54m x 9.71 = $112m
Gearing = $112m / $160m = 70%.
In year 1 the split is:
Interest = $112m x 6% = $6.7m
Principal = $11.54m – $6.7m = $4.8m
LLCR = ($15.0m x 9.71) / $112m = 1.30x.
The LLCR equals the DSCR here because CFADS is flat.
With flat CFADS the sculpted profile is an annuity. When CFADS rises with inflation or dips for maintenance, sculpting moves principal each year so the DSCR holds at 1.30x. The equity cheque is $160m – $112m = $48m.
Expect a follow-up on the circular reference: interest affects tax, tax affects CFADS, and CFADS sets the debt.
Mergers & Inquisitions shows a typical case: value a new 500MW gas plant with capacity and energy payments, escalating operating costs, a 10-year hold, 10-year debt at 5% sculpted to a 1.40x DSCR, a 12% cost of equity and a 25% tax rate. The model is asset-level, so you skip the corporate three-statement build.
The same source lists the mistakes that cost candidates most often:
Preqin reports a median infrastructure fund IRR above 8.5% for every vintage from 2013 to 2022, a useful sense-check for your answer. Our explainer on gross IRR vs net IRR covers the fee drag between deal and fund returns.
Before your first round, you should be able to:
Our growth equity interview questions and leveraged finance interview questions guides cover fit and credit questions that also come up here. If you want structured practice on project finance and LBO models, Wall Street Oasis courses include modelling modules you can work through before a test.
They are more technical in a narrower area. Fit questions are similar, while technical rounds test asset-level modelling, revenue contracts and project finance debt instead of corporate LBO mechanics. If you have only built corporate models, practise DSCR sculpting and concession valuation first.
Yes, at least the basics. You should be able to build CFADS, size debt to a target DSCR and sculpt repayments. A typical case uses one asset with contracted revenue and escalating costs. Build the worked example above, then a full contracted-asset model, before your first round.
Quote a range by strategy. Mergers & Inquisitions puts infrastructure targets at roughly 8% to 15%, with core usually below 10%, core-plus in the low teens and opportunistic at 15% or more. Say whether a figure is gross or net and levered or unlevered, because interviewers often follow up on the basis.
Link your answer to your experience and to the asset class. Mention long-life essential assets, contracted or regulated cash yield and the modelling you enjoy. Add one current theme, such as the move towards core-plus funds, and one asset you find interesting.
Infrastructure private equity interviews pair standard fit questions with an asset-level technical test. Classify the revenue first, then explain leverage through DSCR and LLCR, and practise sizing and sculpting debt until you can do it on paper. That combination covers most of what interviewers and case studies test.
P.S. If you want to sharpen the modelling speed these tests demand, the Excel Test – Analyst Level lets you practise under time pressure, and our Premium Resources include additional tools you might be interested in. For weekly finance updates and the latest financial reports, join the Private Equity Bros newsletter.
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