CSIO vs NFRA

CSIOCCohen & Steers Infrastructure Opportunities Active ETF

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad 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.

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

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.

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

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 CSIO profile⁠

Full NFRA profile⁠