Alternative ISAs: Infrastructure

A big attraction of infrastructure funds is the fixed income nature of their returns - and the returns for many of these investments can be partially hedged for inflation

Szymon Idzikowski 11 April, 2014 | 10:30AM
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Urbanisation, construction of new airports, roads and railways and emerging market growth are among the drivers behind the success of the infrastructure sector. Investors are also looking at it in their search for income.

Indeed, a big attraction of infrastructure funds is the fixed income nature of their returns. Similar to real estate investments, a large portion of the return from infrastructure investments is generated as income, which provides a greater predictability of returns over time. Infrastructure earnings are less impacted by the economic cycle, too, making them by nature more defensive. Also, the returns for many of these investments can be partially hedged for inflation.

One can access the sector through direct or equity-based funds.

Direct funds invest in ‘real’ infrastructure projects, such as the building of schools or hospitals, and ongoing maintenance contracts of such operations. The majority of these are structured as investments trusts, or closed-end funds, to manage the liquidity constraints. A key advantage is their low correlation to equity markets and other asset classes.

Equity-based funds target infrastructure-linked listed companies: companies that own and operate infrastructure assets. The nature of the underlying investments means that listed infrastructure funds have better liquidity and are able to achieve greater levels of diversification than that of a direct infrastructure fund, but their performance will be much more closely correlated with equity markets.

Both fund types have seen a lot of demand over the last few years. Indeed, since 2006, when the first infrastructure investment trust was launched, 11 other funds have followed suit and they currently comprise some £5.5 billion in assets. An issue, however, with closed-end funds is that they have become victims of their own success and currently trade on average at a high single-digit premium, as investors search for alternative sources of reliable income. In other words, an investor has to pay more than their underlying assets are worth. However if the income is of a high and sustainable quality and the need for it is paramount, it seems investors are willing to pay over the odds.

For more information about infrastructure investment and learn about a couple of funds, watch our latest video here

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Szymon Idzikowski

Szymon Idzikowski  is a closed-end fund analyst with Morningstar.

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