As Tim Whittaker, director of the EDHEC Infrastructure & Private Assets Research Institute, highlighted in his February paper, The Inflation Hedge That Isn’t, infrastructure assets such as toll roads may adjust prices automatically in line with the Consumer Price Index. However, this does not guarantee that real equity returns are safeguarded against inflation. Whittaker explained that factors like reduced traffic and higher maintenance capex – driven by construction-sector inflation exceeding the CPI – can quickly erode the gains from inflation-linked revenues.