NFRA vs SHPP

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

SHPPDPacer Industrials and Logistics ETF

In short

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.

SHPP Infrastructure usually means roads and bridges. Pacer's 2022 launch buys the freight system instead: a rules-based global index of ports, railroads, warehouses and shippers, about 120 names deep.

Stated mandate

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

SHPP The fund uses a rules-based strategy seeking to track the Pacer Global Supply Chain Infrastructure Index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• SHPP Narrow by design: it tracks the Pacer Global Supply Chain Infrastructure Index, so you get the plumbing of trade rather than a broad industrials grab bag.paceretfs.com
• Global mandate, not US-only, which separates it from domestic-build peers like IFRA and PAVE.paceretfs.com
• Rules-based index, roughly 120 holdings, and a portfolio that matches the supply-chain exposure the fund advertises. No manager hunches.
• Pays distributions quarterly, in line with the dividend rhythm of the transport and industrial names it holds.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• SHPP 0.60% a year, slightly above the typical infrastructure fund, and above cheaper broad options such as IGF (0.37%) and IFRA (0.30%).
• Small and thinly traded, so spreads can be wide. Limit orders matter more here than with the big infrastructure names.
• It sits in the lower half of our infrastructure group, mostly on size and trading friction rather than how the portfolio is built.

Full NFRA profile⁠

Full SHPP profile⁠