Zenith awards the ClearBridge listed infrastructure funds top ratings
Leading investment research firm Zenith Investment Partners has upgraded its ratings of four ClearBridge managed funds, saying ClearBridge has “one of the strongest teams” in the listed infrastructure sector.
In the updated assessments issued this month, Zenith changed its ratings from ‘Recommended’ to ‘Highly Recommended’ – its top rating – on the following funds:
- ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure Value Fund – Hedged;
- ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure Value Fund – Unhedged;
- ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure Income Fund – Hedged: and
- ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure Income Fund – Unhedged.
Zenith highlighted the firm’s success in navigating various corporate changes, while maintaining continuity within the business. The company’s infrastructure strategies are “well-positioned to benefit from the scale” of both ClearBridge Investments[1] and the broader Franklin Resources, Inc., “most notably in their client servicing and fundraising efforts” according to the report.
Zenith says the asset management team is one of the “largest and most well-resourced infrastructure investment teams…[and] recent succession planning efforts coupled with the collective experience of the team’s senior membership, positions ClearBridge as one of the strongest [global listed infrastructure] teams in the peer group.”
ClearBridge’s investment process is focused on bottom-up research in an effort to identify infrastructure securities that possess high-quality assets, operate in a monopolistic environment and provide stable and predictable returns.
In addition, ClearBridge believes “that by using a longer-term, fundamental valuation approach, significant opportunities arise as listed markets misprice infrastructure assets in the short term”, Zenith says.
The success of this approach is evident in the performance data, with all four funds beating the net returns of their benchmarks and peer group median manager returns over all periods reviewed by Zenith.[2]
Another feature of the performance analysis was that ClearBridge has been able to combine a high-conviction approach to portfolio selection with low risk. The funds have maintained standard deviation levels below benchmark and peers since inception.
ClearBridge Investments’ Head of Australian Intermediary Distribution, Steve Williams, said the ratings are a validation of ClearBridge’s active approach to infrastructure investment.
“Research-driven stock selection generates portfolios that are distinct from the market. We believe our high-conviction approach gives investors the best opportunities to earn superior results,” he says.
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