Spotlight on Anurag Agarwal, Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Management, Global Transportation Group, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Anurag Agarwal, Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Management, Global Transportation Group, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
In my role as the Head of Portfolio Management, Global Transportation Group at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, I am responsible for portfolio management responsibilities for some of our key transportation strategies. I sit on our investment committee and vote on all investments made by our strategies, while providing insights with regard to the global transportation sector. I am also responsible for our global client strategy and investor engagement.
Large global end users (corporations), that need access to transport assets as a critical part of their supply chains, have historically not been interested in owning the assets, creating a need for off-balance sheet financing in the form of leasing capital. Given heightened regulations from Basel III and IV, banks have largely exited the transport financing business, which has allowed J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Transport Group to position itself as a leading lessor in the worldwide maritime and energy logistics sectors.
Since 2010, we have built a formidable position as one of the world’s largest owner-operators of transport assets.
The core plus investments that the team makes represent the larger, more capital-intensive, and most strategically important assets of the global logistics network, such as containerships, aircraft, gas carriers, railcars, and vehicle fleets. The assets benefit from long duration-based leases, which generate predictable cash flows, across a diversified universe of counterparties. The leases are also largely US dollar-denominated, providing investors access to the inflation protection offered by real assets, with minimal currency risk.
A few additional key highlights of the asset class investors should be aware of include:
Resilience – Core Transport has delivered stable returns through one of the most volatile market cycles since 2020. The asset class has delivered resilient, predictable and uncorrelated returns to investors.
Creditworthiness and diversification – Lessees in this space are often investment grade and include oil majors, utilities, mining companies, multinationals, and global transport companies. A disciplined approach to counterparty selection may result in outsized returns compared to commensurate corporate credit making the asset class attractive.
ESG alignment – There is significant demand for modern, ESG aligned transport assets with lower emissions and better fuel consumption, that is creating a significant need for capital as the global fleet of transport assets go through a transition. We estimate this demand to exceed USD 3 trillion over the next 10 years.
Moving Infrastructure – Core Transport assets play a critical role in the global trade environment and are often times considered to be the ‘moving’ part of the broader Infrastructure allocation. Core Transport can diversify an Infrastructure allocation, while delivering uncorrelated income to a portfolio.
In summary, investment in this asset class would be suitable for investors seeking:
Diversification within their portfolio, or a specific allocation to a diverse alternative investment
Predictable income / Uncorrelated returns
Inflation protection
Resilient asset class
Steady cash flow
Alternative investment that is ESG aligned
Anurag will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Fixed Income and Alternatives Investment Forum, taking place on Thursday 7 September 2023 at Westin Melbourne.
To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan.kapetanovic@globalii.com.au.
Anurag Agarwal, Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Management, Global Transportation Group, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Anurag is a Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Management for the Global Transportation Group in Alternatives. Anurag is a senior member of the team, on the investment committee and responsible for client strategy and investor engagement. He has over 20 years of experience in institutional sales and direct equity investment activity.
Previously, Anurag was a managing director and partner at Regent Private Capital, a family office where he invested in and managed a portfolio of direct investments in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, services and transportation industries. Anurag started his career at JPMorgan’s Investment Bank in the M&A group before moving to an investment role on the Asset Management side of JPMorgan.
Anurag earned an MBA from Boston University, Beta Gamma Sigma and a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pune University, India. He has also been a lecturer and Director of Faculty at the Graduate School of Business at Boston University.
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