NFRA vs SRVR

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

SRVRCPacer Data & Infrastructure Real Estate 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.

SRVR Most infrastructure funds buy the builders and the toll roads. SRVR buys the landlords: US and global data and infrastructure real estate plus power generation, in about 70 names, at a fee below its peer group's median.

Stated mandate

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

SRVR The ETF seeks to track the Solactive GPR Data & Infrastructure Real Estate Index's total return before fees and expenses. It uses passive indexing and generally replicates the index, which covers U.S. and global data/infrastructure real-estate and power-generation companies.

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.

• SRVR A property-owner angle on digital infrastructure: it tracks the Solactive GPR Data & Infrastructure Real Estate Index of US and global data/infrastructure real estate and power generation companies.
• Fee is 0.49% a year, under the median for its infrastructure cohort, so you keep more of whatever the theme delivers.
• Running since 2018 and purely rules-based: it replicates its index rather than stock-picking, and distributes quarterly.
• On the whole package (cost, structure, staying power) it sits in the upper half of its infrastructure peer group.

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.

• SRVR About 70 holdings in one narrow slice, so a handful of big property owners steer results far more than in broad infrastructure funds like IGF or PAVE.
• The real estate wrapper cuts both ways: this has been one of the choppier rides among infrastructure funds.
• Moderately traded rather than a category heavyweight, so spreads can run wider than on the busiest infrastructure ETFs.

Full NFRA profile⁠

Full SRVR profile⁠