CSIO vs GII

CSIOCCohen & Steers Infrastructure Opportunities Active ETF

GIIAState Street SPDR S&P Global Infrastructure ETF

In short

CSIO Global infrastructure without the index. Cohen & Steers runs CSIO as a high-conviction, actively managed book of infrastructure stocks, chosen by fundamental company analysis rather than benchmark weight.

GII Toll roads, airports, pipelines and power grids in one ticker. GII has tracked the S&P Global Infrastructure Index since 2007, an early entrant in the category, and charges less than the typical infrastructure fund.

Stated mandate

CSIO The Fund seeks total return. It pursues this objective primarily through a high-conviction portfolio of global common stocks and other equity securities issued by infrastructure companies, using active management and fundamental company analysis.

GII The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P Global Infrastructure Index. That index provides exposure to large publicly listed infrastructure companies across transportation, utilities, and energy infrastructure.

Why people hold it

• CSIO Active and concentrated by design: a high-conviction portfolio of infrastructure equities picked through fundamental company research, not index weights.
• The mandate is global, so the manager can own infrastructure listed outside the US, not just American names.
• The stated objective is total return, so income and capital appreciation both count. No pressure to reach for the highest-yielding names.
• Even as a newcomer, it lands in the upper half of the infrastructure funds we review.

• GII Tracks an index of 75 of the largest listed infrastructure companies, screened for float and liquidity, spread across transportation, utilities and energy infrastructure in developed and emerging markets.ssga.com
• 0.40% a year against a 0.55% median for infrastructure ETFs. The cheap end of a category that often is not cheap.
• Live since 2007, so the record covers the financial crisis, a decade of low rates and the 2022 rate shock. It rates among the strongest implementations in its infrastructure peer group.

Worth knowing

• CSIO At 0.65%, it costs more than the index infrastructure funds it sits beside (IGF, IFRA and GII all charge less). That is the standing price of a stock-picker.
• It listed in December 2025 and began life small and lightly traded, which usually means wider bid-ask spreads than the category's veterans.
• Distributions are scheduled once or twice a year, not monthly, so cash arrives in lumps.

• GII IGF follows the same index for 0.37%, three basis points less. GII's own trading is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads count alongside the fee gap.
• Roughly 70 stocks across three sectors and several currencies. A focused, globally scattered book that can behave quite differently from a broad world equity fund.ssga.com
• Distributions arrive on an annual or semiannual schedule, so cash lands in lumps rather than monthly.

Full CSIO profile⁠

Full GII profile⁠