Skip to main content

The role of infrastructure in a portfolio

Steven Kempler | Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager, Global Listed Infrastructure

by Steven Kempler

Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager, Global Listed Infrastructure

Research paper 16 Jun 2019
Two level road network

Interested in investing with us?

We believe that investors seek to benefit from the essential service nature and strong strategic positions of infrastructure assets. Such investors also look for inflation protection and more stable income relative to certain other asset classes such as global equities and global REITs. The growing global interest in infrastructure has been supported by a historically lower volatility and a less than perfect correlation with global equities. We have previously analysed the role of infrastructure in a portfolio including capital preservation, downside protection during market weakness, reduced correlations with other assets, and a long-term inflation-linked growth in income. In this report, we review whether these attributes still hold true.

Steven Kempler
Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager, Global Listed Infrastructure

Steven Kempler | Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager, Global Listed Infrastructure
Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager, Global Listed Infrastructure

Steven Kempler

BCom, LLB, MFin, CFA
Steven joined Maple-Brown Abbott in 2012 and is co-founder and portfolio manager of global listed infrastructure. Prior to Maple-Brown Abbott, he spent six years in Macquarie’s Global Listed Infrastructure team as an investment analyst covering infrastructure and utilities in the Asia Pacific region. He was later appointed as a joint Portfolio Manager for Macquarie’s Emerging Market Listed Infrastructure strategy.  Prior to joining Macquarie, Steven worked briefly within Rothschild’s investment banking division in London, specifically on debt and mezzanine private placement transactions. Steven is an airports expert and is responsible for the coverage of the team’s airport investments around the globe, the transportation infrastructure and communication infrastructure assets.

 

Board and committee membership:
Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure Pty Limited

Steven

Interested in investing with us?

Investment Insights

Data Center
Research paper 9 Oct 2024

Data Centers – are they infrastructure?

The Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure (GLI) team has long held that data center companies do not exhibit the requisite “core” characteristics of infrastructure, namely due to lower barriers to entry, higher competition and typically shorter contract lengths relative to other “core” sectors. We believe data centers offer inadequate inflation protection, higher cash flow volatility, and better align with real estate or "core-plus" infrastructure rather than core infrastructure.
Water treatment plant
Research paper 7 Jun 2021

One asset class?

Listed vs unlisted infrastructure through the lens of UK water utilities. We explore the exciting investment opportunities in the UK listed and unlisted water utilities infrastructure market.
Aerial view of an overpass at night
Research paper 17 Sep 2020

Listed vs unlisted infrastructure

Where do you sit on the debate? This paper challenges the assumption that listed infrastructure and unlisted infrastructure are two separate asset classes by analysing examples of actual assets owned by these two distinct investor classes.
Two level road network
Research paper 16 Jun 2019

The role of infrastructure in a portfolio

We believe that investors seek to benefit from the essential service nature and strong strategic positions of infrastructure assets.

Subscribe to receive Investment Insights