The New Zealand infrastructure fund’s first investment saw it purchase a 50% stake in a convention centre in Melbourne from Plenary Group. PIP Fund said it will invest in a similar opportunity in New Zealand and may team up with Plenary Group again for that investment.
Ernst & Young, Ashurst and Atkins will provide financial, legal and technical advisory services respectively for Kuwait’s $7bn metro project – the country’s second public-private partnership.
A consortium of Turkish company Limak and France’s Aeroports de Lyon has won a 20-year, €140m contract to build a new terminal and upgrade Kosovo’s Pristina airport. The contract is one of Kosovo’s first public-private partnerships.
David Ryan resigned as chairman of Transurban today just as the toll road operator announced a swing back to profit. Chief executive Chris Lynch expressed surprise about the resignation in a conference call with reporters. Lindsay Maxted, ex-chief executive of KPMG Australia, takes his place.
The UK PPP and PFI investor has been appointed alongside property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton to manage the £55m Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales, an urban regeneration fund.
The ministry of finance has launched the Indonesia Infrastructure Finance company to provide long-term funding for the country’s infrastructure and promote PPPs. It launches with $179m of equity and committed loans of up to $224m.
Ed Greene, who lead the Asia business for placement agent CP Eaton Partners, has now launched his own firm. Starting with nine staff, Diamond Dragon Advisors is to advise on sectors including real assets, real estate, private equity, and hedge funds.
Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial has revealed that the sale of a 10% stake in Canada’s 407 ETR toll road by its Cintra subsidiary will be delayed for several weeks. The sale has been held back following a recent takeover bid for Intoll, which is Ferrovial’s partner in the 407 ETR.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.