We study optimal replacement and abandonment decisions for real assets, when both revenues and costs are uncertain and deteriorate with age. We develop an implicit representation of the renewal boundary as the solution to a set of simultaneous equations. This quasi-analytical method has the merit of computational ease and transparency. We show that the correlation between revenues and operating costs has a significant influence on the renewal boundary, and that the increase in revenue immediately following a renewal has a greater relative influence on the boundary than either operating cost or renewal cost. The quasi-analytical method is sufficiently flexible to deal with other real option models involving 2 variables.

Since the financial crisis infrastructure has become an increasingly attractive asset class for investors, especially among financial institutions, who recognize the value of diversification opportunities within infrastructure. In parallel with the emergence of infrastructure as an investable asset class, the global financial turbulence has generated even greater incentives for investors to diversify their portfolios with infrastructure, as the asset class exhibits characteristics to navigate in a more challenging economic environment. A growing trend are real estate companies entering the infrastructure market for the first time, strategically seeking to balance their real estate portfolio with other real assets and capitalize on global trends such as the energy transition and digital progress. This approach allows real estate companies to achieve portfolio diversification while potentially generating greater financial returns, depending on the investment strategy and type of infrastructure asset. The global privatization of infrastructure has also been reflected in the Nordic market, with the public sector showing more reliance on private capital inflows for initiatives such as infrastructure renovation and transition toward sustainable energy. As the market has grown, the concept of infrastructure has also transitioned from a traditional notion of including railways, roads and bridges, subsidized by the public sector, to incorporate several different sectors backed by private financiers. Consequently, the study seeks to establish an appropriate definition of infrastructure from a Nordic perspective, serving as a foundation to identify opportunities and barriers for Nordic real estate actors seeking to diversify their portfolios into the infrastructure sector. As part of the study, the strategies of Nordic institutional infrastructure investors are analyzed, as well as prevailing trends and prospects for the Nordic infrastructure market. In order to obtain the results, a qualitative semi-structured interview study was conducted, involving eight actors with different backgrounds, active in the Nordic infrastructure market. The results showed that Nordic actors have divided opinions of what should be included in the definition of infrastructure. The conclusion is that the definition of infrastructure is dynamic, with capital-intensive infrastructure investors characterizing different asset classes depending on where the capital is allocated. In addition, there is currently an incentive for a real estate actor to involve infrastructure in the portfolio to strengthen the company's sustainability profile through green renewable energy and to benefit from real estate expertise in grey areas consisting of infrastructure assets with property-like attributes. Through the act of diversifying a portfolio, real estate actors have the potential to benefit from tomorrow's infrastructure market, which will consist of more private actors, and provide enhanced risk diversification as new technology is constantly being integrated in the Nordic region. One avenue for future research would involve examining quantitative transaction data to gain a comprehensive understanding into the dynamics and patterns associate with different investment approaches and risk appetites. / Sedan finanskrisen 2008 har infrastruktur blivit en alltmer intressant tillgång för investerare och främst tunga institutioner som ser värdet med de ekonomiska diversifieringsmöjligheterna infrastruktur kan erbjuda. Parallellt med att infrastruktur växer fram som ett attraktivt tillgångsslag, har den ekonomiska turbulensen runtom i världen skapat ännu större incitament för investerare att söka sig till infrastruktur, då klassen visar på karaktärsdrag som kan hantera ett oroligare ekonomiskt klimat. Här ser man bland annat fastighetsbolag som för första gången tar klivet in i infrastrukturmarknaden i syfte att balansera sin fastighetsportfölj med andra reala tillgångar och dra nytta av globala trender inom tillexempel energiomställningen samt det digitala framsteget. Strategin tillåter fastighetsbolag att både diversifiera sina portföljer och kan potentiellt leda till större ekonomiska vinningar beroende på investeringsstrategi och typ av infrastruktur. Den globala privatiseringen av infrastruktur har även återspeglats i den nordiska marknaden, då det offentliga i större grad blivit beroende av privata inströmningar av kapital när infrastrukturen ska renoveras och samhället genomgå en energiomställning. I takt med att infrastrukturmarknaden har utvecklats, har även begreppet gått från en traditionell uppfattning av att innehålla järnvägar, vägar och broar, subventionerat av det offentliga, till att omfatta flera sektorer påbackade av privata finansiärer. Studien syftar således till att identifiera en lämplig definition av infrastruktur från ett nordiskt perspektiv för att kunna kartlägga möjligheter och barriärer för nordiska fastighetsaktörer att diversifiera sina portföljer mot infrastruktur. Som en del av studien undersöks därmed nordiska institutionella infrastrukturinvesterares strategier samt trender och framtidsutsikter för den nordiska infrastrukturmarknaden. För att nå fram till resultatet har en kvalitativ semi-strukturerad intervjustudie genomförts omfattandes av åtta aktörer med olika bakgrunder involverade inom infrastruktursegmentet i Norden, varpå den empiriska studien jämförts med en litteraturgenomgång av ämnet. Resultatet visar bland annat på att nordiska aktörer har delade uppfattningar om vad som ska ingå i definitionen av infrastruktur. Slutsatsen är att definitionen av infrastruktur är dynamisk där kapitalintensiva infrastrukturinvesterare sätter prägel på olika tillgångsslag beroende på var kapitalet allokeras. Därutöver finns det idag incitament för en fastighetsaktör att involvera infrastruktur i sin portfölj för att bland annat stärka bolagets hållbarhetsprofil genom grön energi samt kunna dra nytta av fastighetsexpertisen inom gråzoner som utgörs av infrastrukturtillgångar med fastighetsliknande attribut. Genom att diversifiera sig kan en fastighetsaktör dra nytta av morgondagens infrastrukturmarknad som kommer utgöras av flera privata aktörer och erbjuda en större riskspridning när ny teknologi ständigt tillkommer Norden. En möjlighet för framtida forskning är att undersöka och analysera kvantitativa transaktionsunderlag för att skapa en djupare förståelse i dynamiken förknippad med investeringsstrategier och riskbenägenhet.

The increased penetration of servitization is an ongoing trend within the industrial machinery space. This typically means that industrial machinery manufactures themselves retain ownership of the machinery they manufacture whilst also taking over maintenance operations. Essentially, offering customers a netresult. Servitization has several documented benefits for both customers and manufactures. Forcustomers it offers certainty in terms of operationality and costs. Whilst for manufacturers it generates stability in revenue generation and increasingly ties customers closer to their orbit. On a different note, record low interest levels coupled with developments within asset management such as the endowment model has resulted in that institutional investor such as pension funds have redirected capital towards alternative assets such as non-listed real assets. The shift has been so profound that many are struggling to find attractive real assets and thus institutional capital is looking for new types of real assets. Servitization and institutional investment has largely existed in separate silos. The study has studied an intersection of these two domains and has firstly found that servitized industrial machinery has several core attributes clearly align with infrastructure. These traits include non-cyclical and long-term revenue, long(er) lifetime, quasimonopolistic, and environmental benefits. The study indicates that as servitization becomes more widespread, industrial manufactures realize that servitization will result in more deployed capital. Therefore, companies will need to find new forms of financing for their servitization operations. From a financing point of view, companies prefer debt-based financing such as asset backed securities such that operational control can still be had. The study found that the core attributes of servitization and its closeness to infrastructure is appealing for institutional investors and see it as a possible future real asset investment class however, institutional investors feel unsure how to properly gauge the longevity of specific types of industrial machinery. Institutional investors who participated in the study have almost exclusively invested in real asset through equity. However, in regard to the financing of servitized industrial machinery, investors are also willing to invest via debt, if the expected returns justify the risk taken. The study indicates that there is a clear linkage between servitized industrial machinery and infrastructure whilst also demonstrating a substantial interest from industrial machinery manufacturers and institutional investors to engage with each other for the financing of servitized industrial machinery going forward. / Inom maskintillverkningsindustrin har tjänstefiering (servitization) blivit en allt viktigare del. Tjänstefiering innebär att maskintillverkare behåller ägandeskap av de maskiner de tillverkar samtidigt som de ansvarar för underhållet av dessa. Därmed erbjuder maskintillverkare sina kunder en tjänst dvs kapabiliteten i vad en industriell maskin kan leverera. Tjänstefieringen av industriella maskiner har ett flertal dokumenterade fördelar både för kunder och maskintillverkare. För kunder innebär tjänstefiering en ökad kännedom kring kostnader och en ökad säkerhet för att maskiner skall fungera. För maskintillverkare medför tjänstefieringen ökad stabilitet i försäljning samt ökar betydelsen av dem hos sina kunder. På ett helt annat plan, har rekordlåga räntenivåer tillsammans med utveckling inom fondförvaltning såsom endowment modellen resulterat i att institutionella investerare allokerat en allt större andel av sitt kapital i alternativa tillgångar såsom i icke-noterade reala tillgångar. Detta skifte har resulterat i att många investerare har svårt att hitta tillräckligt attraktiva tillgångar då kampen om dessa reala tillgångar hårdnat vilket har resulterat till att driva upp priset på dessa tillgångar. Tjänstefiering och institutionell investering har till stor del existerat i skilda domäner. Denna studie har undersökt en skärningspunkt mellan dessa två domäner och har bland annat funnit att tjänstefierade industriella maskiner besitter flera likheter med infrastruktur så som icke-cykliska och långsiktiga intäktströmmar, långa tekniska livslängder, kvasi-monopolistisk ställning samt positiva hållbarhetsaspekter. Industriella maskintillverkare som deltagit i studien vittnar om att nya finansieringsformer kommer behövas då tjänstefieringen med all sannolikhet kommer utgöra en väsentlig del av affären framöver och därmed binda mer kapital, allt annat lika. För att finansiera denna affär föredrar företagen skuldfinansiering då det blir enklare att hantera organisatoriskt. Studien finner att attributen av tjänstefierade industriella maskiner och dess likheter med infrastruktur är intressanta för investerare och de ser detta som en framtida realtillgångsklass. Däremot känner sig investerarna osäkra kring hur man skall beakta livslängden kring olika typer av maskiner. Investerare som deltagit i studien har tidigare allokerat ytterst lite av sina realtillgångar via skuldinstrument. Investerare är däremot öppna att investera vi både skuldtillgångar och via eget kapital, såvida den förväntade avkastningen upplevs som fördelaktig i relation till den risk som tas. Studien indikerar att den finns en koppling mellan tjänstefierade industriella maskiner och infrastruktur samt visat att det finns intresse från både investerare och maskintillverkare för att nya former av finansiering för tjänstefierade industriella maskiner i framtiden.

Submitted by paulo junior (paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2010-02-23T16:55:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAELA..pdf: 28017 bytes, checksum: 63a982caaec70506aeb44ca11182e61f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by paulo junior(paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2010-02-23T16:56:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAELA..pdf: 28017 bytes, checksum: 63a982caaec70506aeb44ca11182e61f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2010-02-23T17:09:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAFAELA..pdf: 28017 bytes, checksum: 63a982caaec70506aeb44ca11182e61f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-16 / This study aims to comprehend how the entrance of Petrobras in the retail downstream segment contributes to the company’s current strategy. Since the North American market is the worlds’ biggest gasoline (oil product of high aggregated value) consumer, we come to believe that it would be a relevant market in which the company should expand its business. A sizable market, logistical facilities, interesting margins, as well as portfolio diversification and strategical positioning towards an international recognition as a major oil company are viewed as the main reasons to enter this market. Among the results of this study, it is important to refrain that the North American downstream segment is attractive and, therefore, Petrobras as a regional oil company aiming to become an international oil company should consider the possibility of entering this market. No sufficient barriers to entry were detected regarding predatory behavior as well as sunk costs or vertical integration. Finally, observing the results of the efficient frontier, it is important to say that there is no 'best' portfolio option and, it will be up to the company to decide how much risk is it willing to take and/ or what is the minimal acceptable return. / Esta dissertação objetiva compreender como a entrada da companhia no mercado de retail Norte Americano poderia contribuir com sua estratégia. Acredita-se que sendo o mercado Norte Americano o maior consumidor e também importador mundial de gasolina (derivado de petróleo de alto valor agregado) este seria um mercado relevante para a expansão dos negócios da Petrobras. Dentre as principais razões destacamos: o tamanho deste mercado consumidor, vantagens logísticas, margens atrativas, diversificação do portfólio da companhia e; um posicionamento estratégico no sentido de ser reconhecida internacionalmente. Dentre os resultados desta dissertação pode-se destacar que o mercado de downstream norte americano é atrativo e, assim sendo, a Petrobras, como companhia de petróleo regional objetivando tornar-se uma grande empresa internacional de petróleo, deva estudar a possibilidade de entrar no mercado de retail norte americano. Não foram detectadas barreiras suficientemente fortes no que tange ao comportamento predatório nem custos afundados ou integração vertical que impeça a entrada de novos competidores. Finalmente, ao observar-se os resultados da fronteira eficiente, tem-se que não existe uma 'melhor' opção de carteira e, caberá a companhia definir o quão exposto ao risco deseja estar e, ao mesmo tempo, qual o retorno mínimo aceitável.