Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund: Potential for Diversified Protection in Volatile Markets

30th Nov '18 by DIVIDENDINVESTMENT

3 comments 1123 reads

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund: Potential for Diversified Protection in Volatile Markets

Stock investors have experienced rising volatility levels since the summer, and this has generated new rounds of analysis which suggests that equities markets have become overvalued. This is particularly true in the technology sector, where companies like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) have witnessed substantial declines after posting all-time highs earlier in the year. Global trade tensions and the prospect of tighter interest rate policy at the Federal Reserve have weighed on stocks, and reversed many of the gains posted earlier this year.

Ultimately, this means long-term investors must adopt proactive strategies in order to more effectively manage their positions. Closed-end funds may offer some interesting opportunities in these types of environments because they often trade at substantial discounts relative to net asset value. One name which is currently trading at attractive valuations relative to its historical averages, is Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund (NYSE:INF).

Dividend Investments

The Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund is a well-diversified instrument with assets allocated across major sectors within the global listed infrastructure universe. The Fund seeks to provide a high level of total return, with an emphasis on income, typically investing at least 80% of its net assets in publicly traded equity securities of infrastructure companies.

As of September 30, 2018, Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) currently represent the largest sector for the Fund and Utilities currently make up the majority of the Fund at 21.2%, followed by Toll Roads (15.4%), Pipelines (13.1%), Renewables/Electric Generation (12.2%), Electricity Transmission & Distribution (10.4%), Communications (7.3%), Midstream (7.0%), Airports (4.6%), Water (4.3%) and Gas Utilities (2.8%). This high level of asset diversification may help investors ensure greater protection from potential market declines in any individual industry.

Dividend Investments

Further evidence of potential protective diversification can be found in the Fund’s regional exposure as of September 30, 2018. A majority of the holdings in the Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund are centered in the United States (at 56.7%). Companies in developed European nations are second in defining the Fund’s regional exposure (at 17.2%).

Finally, companies in Canada (9.5%), the United Kingdom (7.4%), Asia Pacific (6.9%), and Latin America…

Unlock with Email

Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here

AnonymousUser192020

30th Nov '18

Thank you. That's an interesting idea for one in need of greater global and sectoral diversity. It would seem a reliable, quasi-utility filter in times of uncertainty - trade wars, rising interest rates 'peak US', Brexit.....

But why this fund out of the raft of lookalikes? Eg for UK investors something like ISHRS GLOBAL INFR UCITS USD DIST ETF (LON:IDIN) might seem more comfortable, seems less volatile and a better return, at least in 2018. Is it primarily the discount? If so, what's the reason for the discount and what should trigger a narrowing? Does it actually pay a dividend? What's the expense ratio? Can you explain what these MLPs are? Are they credit or equity, quoted or not? Potential extra charges? Is there any gearing within the fund?

Back to the sector fundamentals, I wonder if some of the investees are subject to regulatory controls/risk - perhaps less so in US/Canada than Europe? Toll roads perhaps have heightened risk following the Genoa collapse - maybe big bills for precautionary remedial works? I'm surprised there's not more in emerging markets.

Sorry for the raft of questions, but your post has fired me up to investigate further.

PS A pet gripe. What gets my goat is articles that have clear tables and charts, followed by paragraphs that repeat the figures but using words. What's the point? (Likewise news articles that show an image of a tweet, then quote it verbatim in the text below!)

jonesj

1st Dec '18

The above post almost reads like it's written by a house broker for the purposes of marketing. There is no consideration of the advantages & disadvantages of this fund OR comparison with alternative funds/investment trusts.
There is no comparison with any relevant benchmark and the performance data is for one year only, which is definitely not a good way to select funds/trusts.
There is quite a reasonable discount to NAV for something with fashionable words like "Infrastructure" and "Income" in the title. However, without comparison with other options this is meaningless.

In some cases, I have found the Investment Trusts on the largest discount have had dreadful performance over the long term. No idea what applies in this case.

I believe the way to select funds or investment trusts is to look at long term performance, possibly on a site like Morningstar. The efficient market advocates might say this is also no good, but it seems to be working for me.

Taff6

3rd Dec '18

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4225866-brookfield-infrastructure-fast-growing-global-utility-must-high-yield-blue-chip

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund: Potential for Diversified Protection in Volatile Markets

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund: Potential for Diversified Protection in Volatile Markets

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

About the Author

DIVIDENDINVESTMENT

3 comments

Unlock the metrics for all these stocks and more...

Unlock the metrics for all these stocks and more...