Infrastructure and private equity investment manager Foresight Group (Foresight) is celebrating the two-year anniversary of its Global Real Infrastructure Fund (GRIF).

The product has delivered a total return of 35.37 percent since inception since its unveiling in 2019, and is outperforming its benchmark of UK CPI +3 percent.

GRIF was launched in June 2019 to attract investors seeking predictable income alongside diversification and attractive risk-adjusted returns from a global portfolio.  It has been positioned to benefit from major developments and innovations in multiple asset-based infrastructure subsectors.

Many of the fund’s holdings are actively expanding into assets such as 5G digital enabling infrastructure, clean energy generation, transmission and storage. The overall investable universe for the fund is expanding at pace as new companies listed in developed markets see expansion driven by asset innovation.

Fundraising has increased the net-asset value of the strategy to £550 million, an increase of £382m in the last 12 months. During 2020, the fund delivered 27.9 percent, outperforming the FTSE All World equity index by 14.59 percent. While global markets dipped in September 2020, the fund delivered a positive return of 4% percent driven by positive underlying portfolio activity in renewable energy assets and infrastructure assets.

Foresight believes the fund has proven highly resilient during the COVID-related lockdowns and disruption due to its sxposure to real infrastructure assets which provide critical services.

Nick Scullion, head of Foresight Capital Management, commented: “The FP Foresight Global Real Infrastructure Fund has had a very strong first two years, with market beating returns and huge support from investors. The fund’s opportunity set is at the intersection of the decarbonisation agenda and private companies delivering public infrastructure in developed markets and the opportunity is more compelling now than it has ever been.”