Why limited partner capital could be finding its way into the wrong funds. By Andy Thomson
UBS Asset Management and state-backed Abu Dhabi Invest AD have dissolved their Middle Eastern infrastructure fund due to weak market conditions, both companies said in a joint statement. No investments were made.
In a pre-close update issued ahead of its annual results announcement in May, 3i Infrastructure managing partner Cressida Hogg spoke of a “clear improvement” for infrastructure investment, including “a more favourable macro-economic outlook, stabilising asset prices and more realistic price expectations among vendors”.
Alinda Capital Partners, the New York-based infrastructure fund manager which closed a new fund on $4bn earlier this year, has made a major move into the US gas storage market through the $505m NorTex Gas Storage Company deal.
The global fund has received commitments of $580m and will primarily invest in greenfield assets across the globe. It is targeting a final close of $1bn.
A new report by the UK parliament says the PPP contract to upgrade London’s underground rail is “flawed”, adding its voice to the many that have been criticising the project. Mayor Boris Johnson has called for the government to intervene to correct the “dysfunctional” PPP contract.
The direct investment platform of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has agreed its second direct control investment in the UK: the £389m acquisition of National Lottery operator Camelot.
A subsidiary of the French infrastructure group will be officially awarded St. Petersburg’s $1.6bn Orlovsky Tunnel PPP next week. The project, which has been in procurement since 2007, will be two-thirds financed by the public sector with the private partner to contribute the remainder.
Was it reasonable to expect anything substantial on the infrastructure front from a pre-election UK budget? Bruno Alves takes a look.
The UK waste manager, owned by Global Infrastructure Partners and Montagu Private Equity, has sent out information memoranda this week for the sale of its landfill gas unit. The sale is expected to net the company around £300m. Terra Firma and 3i are likely to be interested, according to media reports.
Robert McNamara is joining Lend Lease from US construction firm Penhall/LVI, where he is chairman and chief executive. He will take office next month as chief executive and will focus on green building and PPPs.
A new ‘green’ investment bank with funds of £2bn to invest in clean energy projects was unveiled by UK Chancellor Alistair Darling in today’s Budget, together with the creation of an infrastructure strategy up to 2060.
The French infrastructure fund manager has hired Olivier Garnier, formerly of monoline Assured Guaranty, as its chief operating officer for North America and Jean François Marco, from Antin Infrastructure Partners, as a senior investment director, based in Paris.
Australia’s Future Fund, the country’s major sovereign wealth fund, has abandoned bid talks with two Canadian pension funds that had been planning a takeover of the toll road operator. But Transurban suggests the two pension funds may yet put in a revised bid for the company.
In its latest high profile purchase, the National Pension Service of Korea is to acquire Berlin’s landmark Sony Centre from Morgan Stanley’s sixth global real estate fund.