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.
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 Burno Alves.
The bank is keeping its Irish loans but is exiting the international project finance arena with the sale of a €3bn loan book, starting in mid-April. Deutsche Bank has been hired to advise on the sale.
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.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin has announced that Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports will be merged, refurbished and subsequently privatised. Government wants to increase Moscow air traffic to 100 million passengers by 2020.
Government will publish a rolling two-year forward programme of infrastructure spending and unveil ‘a binding set of principles of economic regulation to provide greater certainty for long-term investors’ as it seeks to cut infrastructure costs by up to £3bn a year.
The UK’s Competition Commission argues BAA should press ahead with the sale of London’s Stansted Airport and one of its Scottish airports, after the airports operator exhausted all legal appeals against further forced sales.
Birmingham Prison has become the first penal institution to be transferred from the public to the private sector. The Ministry of Justice awarded 15-year operating contracts for three UK prisons yesterday worth a combined £1bn.
Dexia Credit Local, the French arm of European bank Dexia, has hired Terry Sanabria in New York to lead its distribution of project and infrastructure financings.
International Public Partnerships, the UK-based listed infrastructure fund, has acquired stakes in nine UK private finance initiative deals for close to £11m. The fund, which raised £100m last year, is considering ‘some fundraising toward the end of the year,’ said director Giles Frost.
If you think budget deficits can serve as a catalyst for parking deals, think again.
The New York-based adviser on energy, industrial and resources infrastructure deals, has launched in Europe with a new Zurich office. Energy M&A veteran Damien Sauer heads the office, while former Allianz Capital Partners boss Thomas Putter is one of two new advisers to the firm.
The $1.2bn infrastructure fund has acquired a minority stake in Ind-Barath Energy, its second deal in India this week after unveiling a $111m investment in a roads operator on Monday.
The UK government has green-lighted three highways maintenance project finance initiative projects in Sheffield, Hounslow and the Isle of Wight. It has also cleared a tram project in Nottingham, which has announced its preferred bidder today, after achieving savings of 21% on the four deals.