By Peter Kneller The European renewable energy sector saw a heightened number of mid-sized M&A deals in the second quarter of 2011, with a strong showing from infrastructure funds and big buyout houses. Perhaps most interestingly, the sector witnessed two infrastructure exits. At the start of June, Infigen, formally Babcock & Brown, finally managed to sell off its 128MW German wind...
By Peter Allison The overwhelming message from this year’s event – held Jun. 14 & 15 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown Manhattan – was that P3s breed P3s. In short, more P3 deals will jump-start the market. It’s not as straightforward as that, however. The US P3 market is almost impossible to define. A P3 in one state may be completely different to a P3 in another. And even within the same...
InfraNews’ feature by Miguel Peña Azpilicueta, BBVA’s Executive Director of Project Finance Little doubt remains as to the profound effect that the financial and sovereign debt crises, triggered by the problems in the US sub-prime market, have had on the Spanish economy. And the PPP market has been no exception. But its intrinsic strength and consistent rate of growth throughout the past...
By Vince Calio The US P3 industry liked the idea of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), but expressed doubts as it heard pitches from Obama Administration officials and Congressional representatives over the four proposals for a bank that have been submitted. That was the sentiment during the two-day Seventh Annual US P3 Infrastructure Forum organized by InfraAmericas in New York City last week...
On Sunday, June 12, Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) managed to retain its position as the country’s ruling party, and also increase its share of the vote to just under 50%. Not bad for a party that had been in power for over eight years. Things, therefore, appear bright for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Prime Minister. He even has an ambitious infrastructure plan in place that...
By Brendan Malkin Everything seems to be up for grabs. The EC and the EIB spent between last September and February of this year road showing its Europe 2020 project bond initiative, a scheme which aims to encourage investment into the European project bond market. On May 3, it completed its public consultation on the details of the scheme, and now it plans to publish a comprehensive proposal on...
By Michael Dunning The steady ticking-over of trade in infrastructure assets continued in the first quarter of 2011 and since InfraDeals’ last infrastructure funds round-up at the end of January. Ports and other maritime infrastructure featured strongly in the deals done, with one major acquisition (Forth Ports) and another (Steam Packet Ferry Company) highlighting the dangers of overleveraged...
By Mick Bowen International institutional fund managers are likely to continue buying stakes in Chilean infrastructure assets, including toll roads, as long as investing in the country combines steady returns with limited risks, sources told InfraAmericas. “In general, we’re going to see more and more. We’ve already seen direct investments in infrastructure by pension funds and sovereign wealth...
By Andrew Cavenagh The Macquarie-led consortium of Australian and New Zealand pension funds that acquired the Moto motorway services chain in the UK in 2006 came under pressure in the first quarter of this year to refinance just under GBP600m of acquisition debt that was due to mature at the end of June. Some industry insiders and banking sources had expressed doubts in February that the...
By Libby Bruch The Commonwealth of Virginia is on the move, with population, commercial, and military growth, and the state has overhauled its P3 program to meet the infrastructure challenges of those changes. With the support of Gov. Bob McDonnell, Virginia created the Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA) Office in 2010. Along with revised guidelines and an implementation manual, the PPTA...