One of the best times to buy infrastructure stocks in the last 30 years is happening right now

Note: This interview was taped on Tuesday 4 February 2025.

Infrastructure assets are often thought of as bond proxies. The prevailing wisdom is that these assets (and the stocks of the companies that own them) are yield plays. So if interest rates rise and bond prices fall, so too must the valuations of infrastructure assets correct appropriately. But Lazard Asset Management's Warryn Robertson argues it's not as simple as that:

"There are assets that operate like nominal bonds, for instance, a lot of the US utilities which have a fixed coupon. As interest rates rise and fall, they live off that. But most infrastructure is like an inflation-linked bond outside the United States. A lot of European and Australian names that we favour have that inflation-linked component to their revenues," Robertson explains. 

"Infrastructure works irrespective of the macro backdrop because of the inherent nature of the assets that they are," he emphasises.

Robertson's criteria for what turns an ordinary infrastructure stock into a great one seems simple on the surface but is far more difficult for a company to achieve than at first glance:

"In the 20 years we've been running the listed infrastructure strategy, we've only ever considered 200 stocks for investment," he says.

"The ones you want to allocate to are the ones that have certain characteristics that are attractive. It's that revenue certainty, the ability to translate revenues into profits, distributions and dividends, and the ability to do this in an active way," he adds.

Better than that, bar 2000 and 2008, when the world was heavily focused on dot-com stocks and the impending global financial crisis respectively, this is turning out to be one of the best periods to buy infrastructure stocks in his 30 years as a professional investor.

In this edition of Views from the Top, Robertson joins us to discuss the lay of the infrastructure landscape, how the return of the new US Government Administration impacting his opportunity set, as well as the stocks he is loving right now. He'll take a deep dive into two sectors that make up nearly 50% of the Lazard Global Listed Infrastructure Fund Active ETF (CBOE:GIFL). Finally, Robertson shares why the rush in inflows into infrastructure assets, caused by private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, is providing a tailwind for his investing style.

Stick around for his View from the Top, which really speaks to the old axiom that "goodness attracts goodness."

Timestamps

• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:38 - What is the most important insight infrastructure investors should be thinking about this year?
• 1:28 - Why should investors still consider infrastructure investing given a world of higher-for-longer interest rates and bond yields?
• 3:20 - How does this current opportunity stack up against other times in Robertson's 30-year career?
• 4:32 - How does the return of Donald Trump affect the way you invest?
• 7:08 - Does the flood of money into unlisted and listed infrastructure assets affect your opportunity set?
• 9:05 - If you had to nominate only one, what is the highest quality infrastructure stock in the world?
• Stocks mentioned: Ferrovial (BME: FER) (NASDAQ: FER)
• 10:31 - What is the highest quality infrastructure stock in Australia?
• Stocks mentioned: Transurban (ASX: TCL) and Atlas Arteria (ASX: ALX)
• 11:38 - Nearly 50% of your investments are in toll roads and diversified utilities. What's the attraction of those two sectors?
• Stocks mentioned: National Grid (LON: NG)
• 14:25 - How do you think about hedging your returns given the huge surge in the US Dollar?
• 15:45 - Warryn Robertson's View from the Top

Learn more

The Lazard Global Listed Infrastructure Fund Active ETF (CBOE:GIFL) offers access to an attractive asset class with low correlation to global equities and fixed income over the long term and is managed by one of the world's most experienced listed infrastructure teams. Find out more below, or by visiting the Lazard website. 

Managed Fund

Lazard Global Listed Infrastructure Fund Active ETF (CBOE:GIFL)

Alternative Assets

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