Manager Comment December 2017 – Listed Infrastructure Fund

In December, the Listed Infrastructure Fund reported an increase in value. For the last month of the year, airport and railway operators were the main contributors to the Fund’s positive performance. Airports had yet another strong month, as passenger growth momentum continued, while the US tax reform had a significant impact on the performance of the sector, pushing up share prices of North American Railways. On a micro level, Fraport AG featured among the Fund’s top performers and traded at highest level since its IPO. Compared to the previous year, German airport operators expect to service about 4.2% more passengers for 2018 and Fraport stands to benefit from this growth. Furthermore, the company also received a ratings upgrade from a few brokers. Among other airport operators, Malaysia Airports also performed well after having seen a 4.8% passenger growth, mainly driven by international passengers. Sempra Energy was the weakest performer in the reporting month, due to the overall negative development of the US regulated transmission and distribution sector, which was likely affected by the US tax reform as well as the wildfires in South California. Another positive performer in December was the pipeline operator Williams Cos. The company completed its last out of five planned Transco expansions for 2017. This expansion, which became operational by end of the year, increased Transco’s design capacity by nearly 25%. Further, Williams has several ongoing construction projects of which two major ones are scheduled to be completed during 2018.