NBET vs NFRA

NBETDNeuberger Berman Energy Transition & Infrastructure ETF

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

In short

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.

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

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.

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

Why people hold it

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 NBET profile⁠

Full NFRA profile⁠