Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund
Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund is an Australian unlisted infrastructure fund within Colonial First State, now First Sentier Investors. It is not a water specialist; water reaches it through utility-scale assets such as recycled-water and treatment schemes, not startup cheques. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment occasional, with a single water holding tracked.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund is exactly what its long name says: a pooled vehicle that buys and holds physical infrastructure, run out of Colonial First State, the Australian manager that has invested in infrastructure for institutions since the mid-1990s and now sits inside First Sentier Investors, ultimately owned by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. This is patient, utility-style capital, not the early-stage money that usually fills a water portfolio.
Colonial First State reaches water the way every diversified infrastructure investor does, through the assets themselves. Its Australian infrastructure book has long included water-treatment and recycled-water schemes in South Australia and New South Wales, the unglamorous plumbing that moves and cleans a city's water, and one of its people has chaired Water Utilities Australia. For a newcomer the distinction matters: Colonial First State owns water as an asset class, it does not write seed cheques into water-tech startups.
Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund barely registers in my Leviathan water database, which is why (don't) Waste Water rates it an occasional water investor rather than a specialist. The directory ties just two deals and a single water-software name to the fund, a thin footprint next to a manager whose real water work lives in utility assets rather than startup cap tables. If you are a founder hunting for water capital, read Colonial First State as balance-sheet infrastructure money, most relevant once your company owns or operates real water assets, not while it is still pre-revenue software.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund invest in?
- Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund invests in physical infrastructure assets, the long-life utilities, transport and energy that institutions hold for steady income and capital growth. Water enters through utility-scale assets such as water-treatment and recycled-water schemes rather than through early-stage water-technology companies.
- Does Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund invest in water?
- Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund invests in water only occasionally, at the asset level. Its parent manager has backed recycled-water schemes in South Australia and New South Wales. (don't) Waste Water tracks two water deals and a single water holding, so it rates the fund an occasional water investor, not a specialist.
- Who runs Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund?
- Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund is managed by Colonial First State's infrastructure team in Australia, the business now operating within First Sentier Investors, ultimately owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group of Japan. It is an institutional fund rather than a partner-led venture firm, so no single managing partner fronts it.
- Where is Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund based?
- Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund is based in Australia, where Colonial First State runs its infrastructure business and now sits inside First Sentier Investors. Its assets centre on Australian infrastructure, including water-treatment and recycled-water schemes in South Australia and New South Wales.
- Is Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund a water fund?
- No. Colonial First State Diversified Infrastructure Fund is a diversified infrastructure fund, holding assets across transport, energy, utilities and property, not a dedicated water fund. Water is one slice of its utility exposure. It should not be confused with a specialist water-technology venture fund.