IFRA vs NBET

IFRAAiShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

NBETDNeuberger Berman Energy Transition & Infrastructure 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.

NBET A concentrated global take on the energy transition build-out: grids, utilities, industrial materials, telecom networks and the real assets underneath them, roughly 30 names deep. A distinctive mandate carrying a premium price tag.

Stated mandate

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

NBET The Fund seeks exposure to equity securities of energy transition and infrastructure companies. Its mandate covers infrastructure assets and services across energy, utilities, industrial materials, real estate facilities, and telecommunications networks.

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.

• NBET The mandate is wider than the label suggests: energy, utilities, industrial materials, real estate facilities and telecom networks all count as transition infrastructure.
• Roughly 30 holdings spanning US and international markets, so individual names carry real weight instead of being diluted inside a sprawling index basket.
• Trading since 2022, so there is a multi-year live record to inspect rather than a backtest, and the fund distributes quarterly.

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.

• NBET Cost is the headline trade-off: 2.10% a year, versus index rivals in the same lane like IGF at 0.37% and IFRA at 0.30%.
• A small fund that trades thinly, so bid-ask spreads and order size matter more here than with the category's heavyweights.
• About 30 stocks tied to a single policy-sensitive theme: swings in that theme land harder than they would in a broad infrastructure basket.

Full IFRA profile⁠

Full NBET profile⁠