About 30 years ago, an Australian investment company called Macquarie figured out how to turn public utilities into lucrative assets. This strategy helped catapult the company into the biggest infrastructure investor in the world. Now, its services range from delivering tap water to London to transporting gas across the United States. But recently it has emerged that one of Macquarie’s former assets, Thames Water, is struggling, and the utility’s consumers are feeling the consequences. We sit down with the FT’s infrastructure correspondent Gill Plimmer to discuss what we can learn from Thames Water’s troubles and what happens when private investments meet a public necessity.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  For further reading: Managed by Macquarie: the Australian group with a grip on global infrastructure The dangers of asset managers when it comes to long-term infrastructure How the Thames Water-gate burst Thames Water travails threaten to plunge privatised sector into crisis - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  On Twitter, follow Gill Plimmer (@gillplimmer1) and Topher Forhecz (@ForheczT) Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we are revisiting an episode from earlier this year about an obscure firm from the United Arab Emirates: International Holding Company’s share price has jumped 40,000 per cent in just a few years. But little is known about the business, which has investments in everything from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to India’s Adani Group. The FT’s Middle East editor Andrew England travelled to Abu Dhabi to get answers about its rapid growth and its connections to some of the most powerful people in the Gulf.  Clips from MSNBC, CBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  For further reading: The UAE business that went from obscurity to a $240bn valuation in 3 years The sheikh’s empire driving Abu Dhabi’s meteoric stock market rise The Abu Dhabi royal at the nexus of UAE business and national security  Groovy girls, typing pools and labour camps: the complicated world of IHC - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  On Twitter, follow Andrew England (@cornishft) and Michela Tindera (@mtindera07) Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.