Manager Comment March 2019 – Listed Infrastructure Fund

In March, Listed Infrastructure continued its strong performance, further outperforming global equity markets. Especially, North American portfolio companies were able to stand out. In contrast, emerging market equities, specifically Brazil, were weak. Among other factors, political concerns, in particular a possible delay in the pension reform, led to the weak performance. The best performing sector this month was the tower industry. While Cellnex’s announcement to increase its equity capital could have negatively affected the share price, it rebounded after the management has given good guidance for its M&A pipeline and continuing robust growth in its tower leasing business. Following the capital increase, Cellnex has a strong balance sheet to fund future tower acquisitions. Moreover, American Tower published its annual results for 2018, which exceeded expectations and were driven primarily by the strong tower business in North America. One of the very few negative contributors to the portfolio was CCR. The Brazilian toll road operator posted disappointing results for FY 2018. Nevertheless, after a strong run in the first two months, the company is showing a positive annual return. Williams, the US gas pipeline operator, achieved the best performance in the portfolio so far this year. The company announced a collaboration with the Canadian pension fund CPPIB to invest in pipeline projects.