The largest fund raisings of the past month have been £125m for International Public Partnerships and £75m for GCP Infrastructure, indicating real demand for infrastructure in the closed-ended space.
Elliott points to a strong month for share price returns in the sector as investors sought safe havens following the Brexit vote and expectations of a cut in interest rates grew, prior to the eventual move by the Bank of England last week.
“Eight out of the 13 funds [in the infrastructure sector] returned more than 5% in share price terms during July and all but two funds returned more than 2%,” he added.
Given the problems facing open-ended funds, it is interesting to note that the sector average for UK property narrowed sharply from 12.4% to 7.9% during July.
As Portfolio Adviser found last week, expectations now are that commercial real estate values will be far more resilient than the post-Brexit doomsday scenario some initially feared.
More than one commentator has singled out the creation of a good buying opportunity in the sector, though it is closed rather than open-ended funds that could be the big beneficiaries.
