With the “stars aligned” for fundraising, European investors have begun trading stock in AMP Capital’s roughly $2 billion Global Listed Infrastructure Fund (GLIF), according to GLIF portfolio manager Giuseppe Corona.

The Ucits fund vehicle aimed at raising capital in Europe launched in 2014, with euro, sterling and US dollar share classes. Over the last 12 to 18 months GLIF’s fund managers have been in discussions with a European client base. “At the end of 2015 the stars aligned for fundraising… We are ready now to turn the discussions into cash flows,” Corona told IJGlobal. Some European capital has already been raised, though AMP declined to say how much.

The Australia-headquartered fund manager AMP Capital started the first leg of growth for GLIF in Asia-Pacific. “The US and Europe are opportunities we as a business turned to explore more recently. Europe is the next leg of growth; for listed infrastructure we now have a vehicle for Europe and a track record. AMP Capital has been investing a lot in London and now there are five members in the distribution team headed by John Angell, focusing on the UK and continental Europe. Under the 2020 strategy the US would be next.”

GLIF is an open-ended fund, with investments from institutional and retail investors. By 2012 the total funds under management (FuM) of the GLIF strategy reached about $400 million, reaching $2 billion by the end of 2014/beginning of 2015. “GLIF FuM has been at a stable level over the last twelve months. But over our three-year business plan the intention is to double the size. Most peers in the listed space have $5 billion in assets under management so it is not such a stretch,” Corona said.

GLIF has delivered an annualised return of 11.8% from 1 August 2010 to 31 December 2015.

The fund’s investments are about 50% in the US, more than 30% European exposure, and 10% in Asia Pacific. “We are invested in about 30 assets, so are a relatively concentrated fund,” Corona explained.

The core infrastructure sectors GLIF invests in are: communications, transport, regulated utilities, integrated utilities, and midstream oil & gas.

With more than 20% invested in communications infrastructure, this sector is quite a focus. The fund is invested in a handful of listed independent tower companies.

“We see that whenever new data is created, more is consumed and more is always needed. There is a need for addition of capacity rather than replacement. We have to be extra careful in valuing assets, and quantifying technological risks,” Corona explained.

“For example, for valuation purposes, we tend to place a discount to the implied terminal value ebitda multiple on broadcasting towers [compared to mobile towers]. In comparison, there is greater uncertainty on their cash-flows 10 years down the line. The way people watch TV now is on demand - pulled rather than pushed - which could create some obsolescence for broadcasting channels and, down the line, the towers.”

Midstream oil & gas assets also account for around 20% of the fund, and that has been the most challenging sector in the core infrastructure space over the last 12 months, due to the sensitivity of the assets to commodity players/customers.