Andrew Maple-Brown, a co-manager of Renaissance Global Infrastructure, says he and his colleagues employ a stricter definition of infrastructure investing than some of his competitors.
"A lot of our peers invest in assets which we don't classify as infrastructure," says Maple-Brown, head of the global listed infrastructure strategy at Maple-Brown Abbott, Ltd., which is based in Sydney, Australia. "Some examples of that are integrated utilities, so we only invest in utilities which are wholly regulated, or substantially regulated. Another example would be railways. We only invest in railway tracks; that's a monopoly asset, not the actual railway cars and competitive businesses that use the tracks, that's a transport business."
Maple-Brown is one of four portfolio managers who manage the Renaissance fund under a sub-advisory contract with fund sponsor CIBC Asset Management Inc., which took effect on June 27. The investment strategy is similar to their firm's global listed infrastructure mandate.
