abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund (ASGI), featuring Portfolio Manager Josh Duitz

In this episode, Mike Taggart - Head of Closed-end Fund Investor Relations, discusses the underlying dynamics currently impacting the global infrastructure marketplace with Josh Duitz, Aberdeen's Head of Global Infrastructure and a Portfolio Manager for ASGI. 

Transcript

ASGI Podcast Transcript - May 2026

Mike Taggart:  Welcome to the latest podcast for the Aberdeen Global Infrastructure Income Fund, ticker symbol ASGI. I'm Mike Taggart, Aberdeen's Head of U.S. Closed-End Fund Investor Relations. With me is Josh Duitz, Aberdeen's Head of both Global Listed Infrastructure and Global Income, as well as the Portfolio Manager for ASGI. Josh, thank you for taking the time to discuss the fund today.

Josh Duitz:  Thanks for having me as always, Mike. Appreciate it.

Mike Taggart: Josh, infrastructure investing, especially global infrastructure, has been a really good investment over the past several years. I was looking, you know, through the end of February, the three-year annualized return on the S&P Global Infrastructure Index was like 17.7%. That's annualized. So 2 questions. One, what's behind that growth? And 2, will, and I guess is, Operation Epic Fury in Iran and the Middle East derailing those growth drivers.

Josh Duitz:  Yep, so let's take those two questions separately. So let's start with the first one. If you step back, the performance has not been accidental or just a re-rating story. It's been driven by a rare alignment of long-term structural demand and near-term cash flow resilience. So let's dissect that a bit. 

First, demand has surged and become more visible. Over the past several years, we've seen a step change in infrastructure needs globally. Electrification, decarbonization, grid expansion, LNG export build-out, transportation upgrades, and now AI-driven data center demand have all moved from future themes to projects being funded and built today. Utilities, midstream energy, and transportation assets are no longer just defensive to growth-enabling. 

Second, inflation actually helped many infrastructure businesses. A large portion of global infrastructure operates under regulated or contractually linked revenue models. That meant higher inflation flowed through to allow returns, tariffs, and cash flows, rather than eroding margins. For investors, this reinforced infrastructure's reputation as a real asset hedge with growing income, not just a bond proxy. 

And third, balance sheet discipline and capital allocation improved. After a difficult period post the GFC, infrastructure companies cleaned up leverage, simplified structures, and focused on shareholders. Dividend growth became sustainable again. Investors rewarded businesses that could fund CapEx, grow earnings, and still return cash. 

And finally, global diversification mattered. The infrastructure index spans utilities, energy, transportation, and we include communications across multiple regions. That mix meant strong contributions from North America's energy and utility investment cycle, European's renewable and grid spending, and reopening driven transport assets like airports and toll roads. That geographic and sector balance really showed its value. 

So now on to the second question about whether this is going to derail growth drivers, what's going on in the Middle East. The short answer is no, but it does create noise and dispersion. And that actually matters how you invest. From a fundamental standpoint, the core growth drivers remain intact. Infrastructure investment is driven by energy security, electrification, population growth, and digitalization, not short-term geopolitics. If anything, the conflict has reinforced the need for reliable power grids, LNG export capacity, domestic energy infrastructure, and supply chain resilience. 

In fact, energy infrastructure has tended to benefit rather than suffer. Disruptions in the Middle East tighten global energy markets and highlight the strategic value of pipelines, LNG terminals, storage, and regulated utilities. Many listed infrastructure funds have limited direct exposure to conflict zones, but benefit from higher utilization and long-term investment commitments elsewhere. What does it matter is around volatility and differentiation. You can see short-term pullbacks when headlines hit, especially in transport assets sensitive to trade routes, insurance costs of fuel prices, but those moves had tended to be sentiment-driven rather than earnings-driven. 

Over time, cash flows have proved remarkably durable. So the bigger risk isn't derailment, it's mispricing. Periods like this often create opportunities to buy high-quality infrastructure assets at better valuations, even though their long-term cash flow outlook hasn't changed. 

So just to sum all of this up, global infrastructure has delivered strong returns because it sits at the intersection of essential services, inflation protection, and long-duration growth. Geopolitical tensions like those we're seeing in the Middle East may increase volatility in the short run, but they don't change the underlying need for power, security, and energy security and transportation. In some cases, they actually reinforce it.

Mike Taggart:  Excellent. And that was kind of where I thought it was. It's long-term. drivers and things that aren't going to be affected by what's going on in the Middle East today short term. So one of the features of ASGI is its ability to invest in private equity, private companies that would otherwise be unavailable to most investors. Would you please discuss that kind of investment process and how such investments affect the fund?

Josh Duitz:  So we have a team working on the private investments and any time an investment they identify as a possible investment, they bring it to us. Generally, it's middle market opportunities that are not available in the public markets. And the first thing we look for is to see if there's a similar company within the public markets. So if there is, we always want to make sure in the private markets we're buying something that's less expensive than we're straight in the public markets because it should be an illiquidity discount, not an illiquidity premium. Again, many of the assets, though, that we're looking at are not available in the public markets, and that's what makes it so attractive, because they're generally either too small or maybe even complex for institutional investors and are only available to buy in the private markets. And that's what's really interesting and unique about it, that we can compare it to public markets and also buy assets that aren't available in the public markets. So it's a really, really additive part of our process, as well as to the portfolio that's not generally available to retail investors.

Mike Taggart: Right, and a lot of investors actually like that, the ability of ASGI to access the private markets. So, you know, kind of just going back, moving on to performance. So year to date, you know, where would you say you've been facing the strongest headwinds and getting the strongest tailwinds?

Josh Duitz: Not surprising because of what I talked about earlier and certainly what's gone in the Middle East. We've seen that energy sector as a strongest performer, talking about contribution, utilities next, while transportation and communication services have lagged. And certainly none of that is surprising. And we are glad to see that the energy and utilities have been so supportive and we've had nice returns so far this year.

Mike Taggart:  Great. And then kind of looking forward now, how do you currently have the portfolio structured, even though the events in Iran, you mentioned are short term, have you changed positioning at all, given what's going on?

Josh Duitz:  Sure. Certainly, we try to take advantage of mispricing. We're not trying to make major, major macro bets. So when we see stocks that all of a sudden have gone up more than we think it should, because we do think this conflict will be resolved at some point, we've used that opportunity to trim down positions. And certainly, we're always looking for new opportunities to buy companies that have unfairly gotten hit by this. or add to current positions. So that's the way we do it. We're not macro investors. We're not trying to take macro risks. And certainly we see the ups and downs, even with this conflict, how the market sold off pretty rapidly and then rebounded. So again, just trying to take advantage and tweak the portfolio more than make major changes based on this macro environment.

Mike Taggart:  Excellent. And then finally, if you could just kind of summarize why investors should be putting money to work in infrastructure and ASGI right now?

Josh Duitz: So this is exactly why we like infrastructure and why we think ASGI is well positioned right now. You're investing in essential assets the world can't function without. Power, energy networks, transportation, and digital backbone. These businesses are seeing structural growth, not cyclical demand driven by electrification, energy security, and data growth. What ASGI adds is selectivity and income. We're focused on high-quality global infrastructure companies with real cash flows, visible earnings growth, and attractive dividends, at a time when valuations are still reasonable and capital is being deployed at scale. In a world defined by volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, and inflation sensitivity, ASGI offers something investors are looking for, durable income, inflation-linked cash flows, and long-term growth from assets that are simply indispensable.

Mike Taggart:  Excellent. Well, thank you, Josh, for that informative update.

Josh Duitz:  Great. Thanks for having me, Mike. Appreciate it.

Mike Taggart:  There are three convenient ways to learn more about ASGI. Visit its website, ABRDNASGI.com. Second, you can e-mail us at investor.relations@aberdeenplc.com or give us a call at 1-800-522-5465. I'm Mike Taggart of Aberdeen. Thank you for listening.

This podcast is provided for general information only and assumes a certain level of knowledge of financial markets. It is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered as an offer, investment recommendation or solicitation to deal in any of the investments or products mentioned herein, and does not constitute investment research. The views in this podcast are those of the contributors at the time of publication and do not necessarily reflect those of Aberdeen. The companies discussed in this podcast have been selected for illustrative purposes only, or to demonstrate our investment management style and not as an investment recommendation or indication of their future performance. The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, and investors may get back less than the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future returns, return projections or estimates, and provide no guarantee of future results.