The private equity industry has had something of a love-hate relationship with infrastructure investing over the past few years. Some firms like Citigroup waded in, and at times the asset class seemed to be on the brink of a real break out. But given the high returns elsewhere, none of the premiere private equity firms plunged in. But TheDeal.com now senses a bit of a change.

The Carlyle Group has taken the plunge, as has KKR and the Blackstone Group. However, "experts believe leveraged buyout impresarios will need to offer more than financial alchemy to compete with project finance specialists." Of particular concern to limited partners is traditional 2 and 20 fee structure. But then "KKR rocked the fundraising establishment by halving its fee and carry structure to 1 percent and 10 percent when it launched its fund last year." We'll see how all this plays out. 

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