BLDX vs NFRA

BLDXCImpax Global Infrastructure ETF

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

In short

BLDX An active swing at global infrastructure in a corner of the market run by cheap index trackers. BLDX's managers hand-pick companies building out sustainable infrastructure and the shift to a more sustainable global economy.

NFRA Most global infrastructure funds stop at utilities and toll roads. NFRA's index goes wider, adding cell towers, data centers, hospitals, prisons and postal routes to the pipelines and railroads, across developed and emerging markets.

Stated mandate

BLDX The Fund seeks capital appreciation and income through an actively managed portfolio focused on companies contributing to sustainable infrastructure and the transition to a more sustainable global economy.

NFRA The fund seeks to match, before fees and expenses, the performance of the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index.

Why people hold it

• BLDX Actively managed, not index-bound. A manager decides which infrastructure names make the portfolio instead of inheriting whatever the benchmark happens to hold.
• Global mandate with a transition tilt: companies contributing to sustainable infrastructure and a more sustainable economy, a narrower lens than generic toll-road-and-pipeline baskets.
• Built for two jobs at once, capital appreciation and income, with distributions paid on an annual or semiannual schedule.

• NFRA Five supersectors in one wrapper: communications, energy, utilities, transportation and government outsourcing (hospitals, postal, correctional), across roughly 220 holdings.flexshares.com
• Charges 0.47% net (0.48% gross), net of a waiver through March 1, 2027, below the infrastructure category median.
• The index does real work: half of revenue must come from infrastructure, names must clear a $1 million daily-volume screen, and sector caps limit crowding. Rebalanced quarterly.flexshares.com
• Listed in 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly, it sits among the stronger builds in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• BLDX 0.60% a year runs above the infrastructure cohort's typical fee and above index rivals like IGF (0.37%) and PAVE (0.47%). Active management is what the extra buys.
• A 2026 launch that is thinly traded and small by category standards, so spreads can run wider than on the group's household names.
• No public index rulebook to audit: what qualifies as sustainable infrastructure is the manager's call, and the fund sits in the lower half of its peer group today.

• NFRA Cheaper options sit on the same shelf: IFRA at 0.30%, IGF at 0.37%, GII at 0.40%. Each tracks a different index with a different definition of infrastructure.
• Broad cuts both ways: telecoms, railroads and postal operators share the portfolio with utilities, so this is not a pure regulated-utility sleeve.flexshares.comflexshares.com 2
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can mean wider spreads on larger orders.

Full BLDX profile⁠

Full NFRA profile⁠