Insights

While the speed of ultimate decarbonisation remains unclear, there appears to be a real opportunity for multi-decade investment as every country moves towards a cleaner environment.

Join 4D Infrastructure’s Global Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Officer, Sarah Shaw, as she discusses the current opportunities in the infrastructure sector with Jodie Saw, Account Director Investments (QLD) at Bennelong Funds Management.

To state the obvious, 2020 was a year like no other. The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges the likes of which individuals, businesses and governments have never experienced before. The impact of this was to push an otherwise pretty robust global economy into recession, force lockdowns and create social dislocation on a previously unimaginable scale. 

The November 2020 US presidential election is between two polarising individuals in Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who represent very different views and approaches to leading the US for the next four-year presidential term. The policy positions of the two parties are likely to have far-reaching impacts on the US and global economy; and specifically, infrastructure investment.

Listed infrastructure has not been immune to the COVID-19 induced recession, but infrastructure is a long term asset, with a five to 10 year horizon, says Sarah Shaw, Chief Investment Officer at 4D Infrastructure.

In the 2020 Federal Budget, the Commonwealth Treasurer announced an additional A$10bn in funding for infrastructure projects over the next four years, increasing the post COVID-19 infrastructure commitment to A$14 billion in ‘new and accelerated’ projects. 

The world has enjoyed over a century of ‘progress’ which has seen developed market industrialisation, huge and ongoing population growth, globalisation and, in more recent times, the emergence of a growing middle class in developing countries.

Lonsec has upgraded its rating for the 4D Global Infrastructure Fund to ‘Recommended’

In this article, Senior Investment Analyst Peter Aquilina and Global Portfolio Manager Sarah Shaw discuss why 4D Infrastructure believes direct and listed allocations complement each other in portfolio construction.