The consortium has abandoned the €1.5bn deal – Romania’s first road PPP – after the government allegedly refused to include some clauses in the contract. The absence of these clauses is said to have jeopardised the team’s ability to secure financing.
The real estate arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has bought 5% of French utility company Veolia Environnement. The acquisition is the fund’s second foray into the French infrastructure market after it acquired 5.78% of VINCI.
Russia’s largest bank, OAO Sberbank, has announced that it will lend VINCI about $1.1bn with a 20-year maturity to help the French infrastructure group build the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway, Russia’s second road PPP.
The Moscow-Minsk M1 road, awarded to a consortium comprising Russian and international firms, is close to signing financial close documentation. A bond issue guaranteed by the Russian government covering a significant amount of the project’s cost was instrumental in securing the close.
The UK’s Institute of Directors, a non-party political group representing the interests of business, has called for the proceeds of future bank privatisations to go towards the country’s £500bn infrastructure need over the next ten years. It predicts the sales could raise £50bn.
The UBS International Infrastructure Fund together with CDC Infrastructure has bought a 9.4% stake in Gassled – the owner of the world’s largest offshore gas transmission system – from ExxonMobil.
The Flemish authorities have recently published tenders for two new roads worth over €600m including a new ring road in the Bruges region and part of a highway crossing the country from north to south.
HSBC is set to receive indicative offers for the sale of its UK rolling stock leasing company by the end of this week. A consortium of 3i, Morgan Stanley and Star Capital is pegged as the frontrunner but a source says the sale “is not a one-horse race”.
New Zealand’s Conservative government announced today that its first PPP will be a 1,000-bed male prison in Wiri, in south Auckland. Expressions of interest will be requested by the end of this year with proposals due in by mid-2011.
The Canadian energy firm has signed a definitive sale and purchase agreement to acquire Deutsche Bank’s solar assets in Italy for €10m plus a deferred payment of €1.5m.
Infrastructure Investor Assets, Infrastructure Investor’s companion database, unveils its inaugural league table of the first quarter’s top infrastructure projects. Papua New Guinea’s $18.3bn liquefied natural gas development tops the list.
The editorial team of InfrastructureInvestor.com takes a look at the top ten insights garnered at Infrastructure Investor: Europe 2010 forum in Berlin.
The Macquarie Capital/Old Mutual Investment Group reached first close with over $300m in commitments for their African Infrastructure Investment Fund 2. The fund will target investments in sub-Saharan Africa including roads, airports, power, rail and ports, among others.
Ambitious plan aims to kick-start the economy by tendering €17bn of PPPs over the next year-and-a-half. Rail tenders will make up 70% of that amount with the remaining 30% comprising road projects. Most of the new tenders will be for greenfields with the EIB and Spain’s ICO to have a crucial role in funding them.
New Canterbury-based alternative investment and asset management business sets large capital raising targets for investment programmes in real estate, private equity and infrastructure.