(as against some of their other products, eg ASX:BBI)

I had heard that many fund managers were pushing client money into utility and infrastructure vehicles of this type to avoid market volatility elsewhere. To what extent are these investments contingent upon the continued health of the investment house? I don't really know. If investment funds are set up properly, trust instruments should insulate investor funds from the financial health of the trustee. Investors should not be exposed but there can always be a few devils in the fine print. One devil is the involvement of the trustee (or trustee's parent) in the underlying business. A second devel is the profit potential of the enterprise itself particularly given the impact of rising fuel prices.

For most infrastructure projects, governments assign the commercial risk to the operators while continuing to control (or greatly influence) prices charged to users. It all works well when interest rates, energy prices and consumer demand remain stable. However where this is not the case and an operator acually defaults, some assets may (through contractual clause) be transferred back to government. Investors would be wiped out.

Macquarie is a much larger fish for another bank to swallow than B&B. If it ever needs to be swallowed it may need to be broken up first.