Abu Dhabi has committed $10 billion to help neighbouring Dubai meet is debt obligations, including its $4.1 billion Islamic bond, which matured today.
HSBC Infrastructure, which already owns a 22% stake in the helicopter training facility in Oxford, is making a £2.1m loan toward the project, which was completed in August 2000 under the UK’s private finance initiative programme. The money will be used to upgrade a Chinook flight simulator.
Already backed by five European countries, the EIB-managed fund has now pulled in financial support from the UK as it seeks to raise €1.5bn by 2011. The fund will back projects implementing EU policy in areas such as climate change and energy security.
The project marks the Portuguese road concessionaire’s first investment in high-speed rail. Over half of the funding for the 40-year design, build, finance and maintain contract will come from the Portuguese government and subsidies from the European Union. Commercial banks will also provide a 27-year, €90 million loan.
Munich-based Deutsche Pfandbriefbank is providing a €200m loan to help finance Spain’s burgeoning high-speed rail sector.
Shares in Dubai-based Emaar Properties surged by nearly 15 percent, their highest rise in more than a year, on the news that it has blocked its proposed merger with real estate companies controlled by conglomerate Dubai Holdings.
Fund valuations are rising, deals are returning and limiting partners are opening their wallets again, but not as much as they used to. This means raising capital for infrastructure will remain hard, hard work for the foreseeable future.
The global fund of funds manager has attracted around $600m in commitments in the last 12 months on its way to a target of $3.75bn.
Despite a significant bid premium, the listed waste management business has said a better offer is needed.
As 2009 draws to a close, deals backed by Highstar and Carlyle are demonstrating that private equity firms can play a constructive role in public-private partnerships.
Why a proposed housing bill in India could scare off institutional investors as easily as attract them. PERE Magazine December 2009- January 2010 issue
How the market reacted to Dubai World's decision to seek a six-month standstill on its debt. PERE Magazine December 2009-January 2010 issue
The state-owned ports and real estate conglomerate at the centre of Dubai’s current economic crisis has announced it is focusing the restructuring of its debt obligations towards itself and its real estate subsidiaries Nakheel and Limitless. It also confirmed that asset sales could form part of the process.
Although the recent listings of Myer Group and Kathmandu Holdings are signs the IPO market is opening up in Australia, they give mixed signals to the private equity industry.
Warnings in 2006 that Dubai would be a property disaster just like Texas in the 1970s have proved prescient. But few expect quick opportunistic deals to come out of the stricken emirate today. By Robin Marriott