Christian Kummert, formerly head of infrastructure at Commerzbank and Eurohypo, has recently joined Austrian bank Kommunalkredit as head of its infrastructure activities.
Property group AMB, Artha Capital, Mexico Retail Properties and Prudential Financial’s Mexican unit will seek to raise about $1.28bn via the Mexican Stock Exchange. State-backed infrastructure fund Fonadin will invest $253m in the funds, with the rest expected to come primarily from local pension funds.
A report from the National Audit Office, which audits the UK government’s accounts, has concluded that the high cost of PFI projects enabled last year by the new Infrastructure Financing Unit were justified by the need to stimulate the economy. But going forward, the NAO recommends stricter criteria being applied to projects.
The board of directors of La Caixa will hold its monthly meeting this Thursday, when it may address a buyout of Abertis together with ACS and CVC Capital Partners. If it doesn’t, the deal’s progress will be pushed back by at least another month, until the board of directors meet again in August.
9REN Group, a Southern European renewable energy company backed by US energy investment firm First Reserve, has raised €80m from a banking syndicate comprising Unicredit Group, Natixis and Mediocreval for the financing of five Italian photovoltaic parks.
Spain’s €17bn public-private partnership stimulus plan has survived cuts to infrastructure announced yesterday by transport minister Jose Blanco. A list of 12 road and high-speed rail projects that will now be re-tendered to the private sector was also revealed.
A successful buyout of Abertis would indicate investors are not as wary of toll roads as many may have thought following the financial crisis, argues Bruno Alves.
The private equity firm may go the extra mile to push the buyout through in the face of a reduced debt package. Keeping Abertis’ credit rating at investment grade post-buyout is another concern, with asset sales being discussed to help fund the deal.
The Inspire Partnership consortium, comprising Babcock & Brown spinout Amber Infrastructure and developer Shepherd Construction, have announced financial close of the Liverpool Library private finance initiative. The project includes £51m of debt from Nationwide and Helaba.
The $242 billion National Pension Service of Korea is planning to grow its alternative assets allocation to more than 10 percent of total assets in 2014. The allocation represents a meteoric rise on the 3.8 percent target allocation set in 2008.
The Deutsche Bank-sponsored fund has acquired an 80% stake in Autovia del Camino from Global Via, Caja Navarra and NEC.
AXA Private Equity, the French private equity and infrastructure investor, has paid €67m for a 50% stake in Autopista Trados 45, manager of a stretch of the M-45 highway in Madrid. The sale is part of a strategy by seller Cintra to realise proceeds from mature assets.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and World Bank unit the IFC have jointly raised €200m from a group of eight commercial banks in support of Russia’s Pulkovo airport PPP, which will see the reconstruction and expansion of the St Petersburg airport.
The global head of Clifford Chance’s private funds group, Jason Glover, will establish a UK practice for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
The Canadian private equity investors are at ‘advanced’ stages of due diligence for what would be the largest UK LBO this year.