In May, the Partners Group Listed Investments SICAV – Listed Infrastructure remained broadly flat in a month where global equity markets lost significantly in value and hence outperformed the market. Once again, the Fund
demonstrated its stable characteristics and the decision to position the portfolio more defensively, was rewarded this month. The larger market movements can primarily be explained by the escalating trade tensions between the US and China. The best performing company in the portfolio during the reporting period was Cellnex. The Spanish tower operator announced a EUR 2.7bn deal to purchase a total of 10,700 towers in France, Italy and Switzerland. In addition, the company committed to a gradual BTS (Base Transceiver Station) roll-out plan in the same region over the next 7 years further improving their footprint across Europe. Earlier this year, we had increased the exposure to Cellnex following the company’s announcement of a capital increase that improved its balance sheet and allowed for larger acquisitions. The French airport operator Aéroports de Paris (ADP) contributed negatively to the Fund’s performance. The company lost value after the French Constitutional Court allowed the proceeding of a petition that could lead to a referendum on a potential privatization. As this significantly reduced the likelihood of the privatization, the share price fell eliminating a part of the M&A premium which had been included in the share price over the past year. Finally, the Brazilian toll road operator CCR was one of the best performing portfolio companies. After a rather ordinary performance in the first quarter of 2019, the company published very solid results with a positive EBITDA development largely driven by new projects coming into service.
