Specialist launches fund to exploit “fourth industrial revolution”

Specialist investor Gravis is targeting what it calls the “fourth industrial revolution” with a fund launch that invests in digital infrastructure.

Gravis Advisory, a subsidiary of infrastructure and real estate investment group Gravis Capital Management, has launched the Gravis Digital Infrastructure Income fund targeting a 3% annual dividend yield.

Managed by Matthew Norris, the firm’s director of real estate securities, the fund will invest in global commercial property companies, equities, and real estate investment trusts (Reits) which are exposed to physical infrastructure assets that have a pivotal role in the digital economy. This includes data centres, telecom towers, and fibre optic cable companies.

Most of the fund’s top 10 holdings are currently US based Reits, with the largest position (7.9%) being California-based Prologis Reit, which invests in logistics facilities.

“This evolution from analogue to digital has happened startlingly quickly,” said Norris. “The technology now at our fingertips operates at a speed and sophistication that would have once fallen well beyond the reach of many of our imaginations.”

This evolution is driving the demand for data, while the internet of things, which connects physical objects to the internet, creates a further “explosion of new data which needs to be communicated, exchanged and stored.” Data consumption is forecast to grow 32% a year over the next four years, said Norris.