Maple-Brown Abbott | 2026 investment outlook: Global infrastructure equity
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[Maple-Brown Abbott]
[2026 investment outlook: Global infrastructure equity]
[Renaissance Global Infrastructure Fund]
[Featuring Andrew Maple-Brown, Portfolio Manager & Co-Founder, Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure]
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Hello, I'm Andrew Maple-Brown, a portfolio manager and co-founder of Maple-Brown Abbott's Global Listed Infrastructure strategy.
Yeah so we're optimistic about the outlook for the year ahead for listed infrastructure. Firstly, we think the macroeconomic conditions are supportive as we see risks to growth, but that inflation could well remain sticky, both of which are conditions that infrastructure assets are well-suited to.
We're also very excited about the growth outlook for a number of our sectors, especially driven by the mega themes of decarbonization and digitalization, both of which need large investments in infrastructure assets. And finally, from a valuation perspective, we think listed infrastructure valuations are fair. They’re cheap versus broader equities, and they're also very cheap versus where equivalent assets trade in the private markets.
In terms of the sectors which have exciting growth opportunities, we particularly like the electric utilities at this point in time. We’re seeing very strong capital expenditures in these companies. This is due to both the need to invest in the energy transition, and more recently, the need to invest due to the growing electricity demand and especially due to data centres. This is leading to strong earnings per share growth—historically, US regulated utilities have grown earnings about 4 to 6% per annum. Also, over the next five years, we expect the average utility to be growing at close to 6 to 8%.
We've done very well over the last 18 months by having the portfolio most focus on the electric utilities which are best exposed to the data center growth. But after some very strong performance in these names more recently, we've been shifting the exposures to other utilities that now have greater valuation upsides.
Nearly 40% of the fund is currently invested in electric utilities, or a combination of electric and gas utilities.
We view water utilities as being very high-quality infrastructure assets, and currently we're seeing some good valuation opportunities, especially in the UK.
We like water utilities as we see a very long-dated capital expenditure need for these companies. The projects are small in size and so carry very little in the way of project risk—water bills are generally very affordable relative to the importance of their service, and we see virtually no risk of substitution or stranded asset risk.
In the UK, the water companies are just finishing the first year in a five-year regulatory period, so have an extended period of low regulatory risk. Water companies currently comprise about 12% of our portfolio.
And from a valuation perspective, we particularly like telecommunication towers at this point in time. In our opinion these terrestrial based assets are critical to modern communications, and the volume of data that we all consume continues to rapidly increase. Further, these assets are very long-dated assets with high barriers to entry, yet valuations are currently at historically cheap levels. We currently have nearly 15% of the portfolio in European and US tower companies.
Outside of these sectors, we still like transportation infrastructure assets, which are about 20% of our portfolio, about half of which are in toll roads, the rest in airports and railways. And we also like assets that have long term contracts—so renewable assets, pipeline assets, these comprise about 10% of our portfolio.
So overall, these are the reasons we enter 2026 cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the listed infrastructure sector.
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[The information contained in this material are the views of Maple-Brown Abbott and compiled by CIBC Asset Management Inc.
This material is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, legal or accounting advice, it should not be relied upon in that regard or be considered predictive of any future market performance, nor does it constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities referred to. Individual circumstances and current events are critical to sound investment planning; anyone wishing to act on this material should consult with their advisor.
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