Vasco de Mello, Brisa’s chief executive, said in a results presentation yesterday that Brisa has been in contact with Abertis regarding the latter’s plans to sell its 14.6% holding in Brisa. News of the possible sale first emerged in the context of a potential buyout of Abertis by its core shareholders and CVC Capital Partners.
Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Infrastructure and a team comprising Macquarie, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board submitted binding bids for the sale of EDF’s UK electricity network earlier this week.
The €1.1bn infrastructure fund has acquired a 20% stake in Italian waste treatment company Herambiente for €105.6m, with an option to acquire another 5% once the deal closes in September.
UK developer Wates Construction has appointed Stephen Beechey as group investment director to oversee the firm’s existing and future involvement in project finance and public-private partnership schemes.
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.
The New Local Government Network, a UK think-tank focused on local government reform, has called for the mobilisation of pension capital to plug a shortfall in UK infrastructure spending over the coming years.
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.
Business secretary Vince Cable has positioned infrastructure as a key pillar of the new coalition government’s economic growth strategy and wants the private sector to pay for four-fifths of the £1trn in infrastructure the UK is estimated to need over the next 20 years.
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.
A successful buyout of Abertis would indicate investors are not as wary of toll roads as many may have thought following the financial crisis.
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.