The local unit trust will provide investors with access to Partners Group Next Generation Infrastructure, a private infrastructure evergreen fund that was recently launched in offshore markets.
According to the firm, the infrastructure strategy seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns across global value-add infrastructure opportunities.
Namely, it focuses on capex-intensive infrastructure assets and businesses with contracted, regulated, or recurring cash flows, leading market share, high barriers to entry, and low risk of disruption.
Partners further clarified that its pro-rata allocation policy provides investors in its evergreen funds access to the same underlying investments as institutional clients.
“Infrastructure as an asset class continues to offer significant growth opportunities,” said Nicholas Kuys, Partners Group APAC managing director and head of infrastructure asset management.
“Partners Groups’ Next Generation Infrastructure unit trust provides an attractive opportunity for Australian private wealth clients to gain exposure to the global infrastructure sector,” Kuys said.
It is anticipated that the Australian unit trust offering will focus on direct investments, complemented by secondary investments, and be traded monthly.
According to the firm, the new offering will build on its status as a “pioneer” in developing solutions to assist a growing number of high-net-worth investors with accessing global private markets investment opportunities.
Last week, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) latest quarterly superannuation statistics revealed a growing trend among industry funds towards infrastructure investments, with approximately 11 per cent allocated to this asset class as of March 2024, of which 9.8 per cent is directed specifically to unlisted infrastructure.
In comparison, public sector funds hold 7.8 per cent in infrastructure while retail funds and corporate funds hold 3.8 per cent and 5.2 per cent in the asset class, respectively.
In terms of unlisted infrastructure, the asset class makes up just 1.5 per cent of retail fund portfolios.
The figures come amid growing market appetite for infrastructure investments, with assets like airports and toll roads highlighted as potential winners this year, against the backdrop of potential interest rate cuts by global central banks and rising passenger volumes.
Similarly, IFM Investors, which manages $108.8 billion for its 686 institutional investors, including its 17 Australian industry super fund owners, also described infrastructure as the “new portfolio cornerstone” as interest in the asset class ramps up globally.
