The Legg Mason ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Income Fund is an income-oriented, global infrastructure strategy designed for investors seeking a high level of income alongside capital growth.
It is now available for Singapore retail investors. “This is a liquid open-ended fund focusing on infrastructure as an asset class, typically made available only in the private space,” said Clement Lee, head of retail for Singapore at Franklin Templeton.
The fund’s investment objective is to provide investors with long-term inflation-linked capital growth over an economic cycle, focusing on delivering a competitive income target of 5%+ per annum over rolling five-year periods, according to Franklin Templeton.
The Ireland-domiciled product fund is managed by Nick Langley, Shane Hurst, Charles Hamieh and Daniel Chu based in Australia. ClearBridge Investments is a specialist investment manager of Franklin Templeton.
“Infrastructure can act as a diversifier in a portfolio, given its lower correlation to asset classes such as equities and bonds,” said Hurst.
“A key characteristic of infrastructure is that the assets tend to be long duration, where asset lives are typically measured in decades. As an asset class, it tends to be less volatile due to the stability of the regulatory frameworks and the long-term contractual nature of assets,” he added.
The fund invests in a range of listed infrastructure securities across a number of infrastructure sub-sectors such as gas, electricity and water utilities, renewables, toll roads, airports, ports, rail and communications, spread across geographic regions in both the developed and emerging markets.
Top sector allocations, according to the fund’s factsheet, are electricity (32%), toll roads (16%), gas (12.5%) and renewables (9.7%). The main country exposure is to the US (22%), Australia (18%), Canada (13%) and Spain (10%).
“Our infrastructure portfolio spans across different infrastructure sectors, regions, and regulatory environments, providing greater cash flow stability and dividends across investment cycles,” said Hurst.
