IFRA vs IPAV

IFRAAiShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

IPAVDGlobal X Infrastructure Development ex-U.S. ETF

In short

IFRA Most infrastructure funds pick a side: the companies that build the stuff, or the ones that own it. IFRA holds both, stays entirely American, and charges well under the category's typical fee.

IPAV Most of the world's building happens outside the United States. IPAV takes the infrastructure-development idea (contractors, materials, equipment, any sector) and points it entirely overseas, across developed and emerging markets.

Stated mandate

IFRA The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. companies with infrastructure exposure, balancing infrastructure enablers and infrastructure asset owners.

IPAV IPAV seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Global X Infrastructure Development ex-U.S. Index.

Why people hold it

• IFRA 0.30% a year, roughly half the typical fee in the infrastructure category and cheaper than bigger-name rivals IGF (0.37%), GII (0.40%) and PAVE (0.47%).
• Tracks the NYSE FactSet U.S. Infrastructure Index, which balances the enablers (builders and suppliers) against the asset owners, rather than betting on the construction cycle alone.
• Roughly 160 holdings spread the theme wide, and the fund pays out quarterly.
• Running since 2018 with over a billion in assets, it sits among the strongest implementations in its infrastructure peer group.

• IPAV Buys the build-out chain, not the finished toll road: about 100 non-U.S. companies tied to infrastructure activity, selected regardless of sector or industry label.globalxetfs.com
• The overseas half of a pair. Global X runs the same development-focused approach for U.S. builders in PAVE, so this one covers developed and emerging markets outside the States.globalxetfs.com
• Rules-based, not a stock-picker's hunch: it tracks the Global X Infrastructure Development ex-U.S. Index before fees and expenses.

Worth knowing

• IFRA US-only by design. The overseas toll roads, airports and utilities that global peers like IGF and GII hold are simply not here.
• A narrow slice of the market, so it can move quite differently from a broad US index in either direction.
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy. Limit orders are the sane default, especially around the open and close.

• IPAV 0.55% is mid-pack for thematic infrastructure, but above broad global options such as IGF at 0.37% and its U.S. sibling PAVE at 0.47%.
• Launched in 2024 and still a small, lightly traded fund, so spreads tend to run wider than at the category's giants and the track record is short.
• Builders and materials names skew cyclical rather than utility-like, and cash comes back once or twice a year, not monthly.globalxetfs.com

Full IFRA profile⁠

Full IPAV profile⁠