The US-based fund manager has closed its first energy infrastructure fund on $1.2bn after around 17 months on the fundraising trail. The fund had a target size of between $1bn and $1.5bn.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is considering investing €100m in the Meridiam Infrastructure Eastern Europe Fund. The sub-vehicle will form part of Meridiam’s second European infrastructure fund, for which it has currently raised about half of the €1bn it is targeting.
HSBC Specialist Investments has been renamed InfraRed Capital Partners. The infrastructure and real estate platform has more than $4bn of capital under management. HSBC will consider further commitments to future funds of InfraRed on a 'case by case' basis.
An interim close last week has taken the amount raised for the French investor’s third infrastructure fund to about €370m. The new fund is targeting a final close of €1.5bn by year’s end.
The airport, which is majority-owned by Australian superannuation funds, claims to have attracted A$1.4bn worth of investor interest. It will use proceeds to repay maturing bank facilities and fund capital expenditure.
The infrastructure fund has obtained €475m of long-term project financing to back two greenfield solar thermal plants.
After refinancing talks broke down, a consortium of banks led by Portugal’s BES has become the new owner of the Isle of Man Steam Packet ferry operator, previously owned by a team of Australian pension funds, advised by Access Capital Advisers, and Macquarie.
The fund is to provide more than £22m in loans this month, after which its capital will be fully invested. London-based Gravis expects to tap the market again later this year for a fresh round of fundraising.
Funds specialising in infrastructure investments have tripled in size since 2007, according to a report from Deloitte. And despite competition from direct investments, the amount of institutional money invested in infrastructure funds ‘will grow steadily over the next few years’.
First-quarter 2011 figures show a growing disparity between the increasing number of infrastructure funds in the market and a decline in the amount actually being raised. While more than $85bn of fresh capital is being sought, only just over $2bn was closed in the opening three months of the year.
The Gulf emirate has hired Citibank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for the dual currency, six-year debt instrument backed by future tolls collected through the Salik electronic toll collection system.
To catch investor attention, funds need to differentiate themselves, think smaller, cut fees and have management teams with a track record in the space, writes Bruno Alves.
The Arab Financing Facility aims to raise up to $1bn to focus on regional infrastructure and public-private partnerships across the Arab countries. The fund is being backed by the World Bank, the IFC and the Islamic Development Bank.
The four operational projects, part of the UK’s project finance initiative, were bought through the fund’s first offer agreement with developer John Laing. The fund expects to be able to tap into £300m of acquisition opportunities from John Laing over the next three years.
The Australian fund manager has raised €241m at first closing for an infrastructure debt fund which is targeting opportunities in OECD countries. The vehicle, which has a final target of €500m, is one of a clutch of infrastructure debt funds launched to boost financing options for the asset class.