UBS Asset Management and state-backed Abu Dhabi Invest AD have dissolved their Middle Eastern infrastructure fund due to weak market conditions, both companies said in a joint statement. No investments were made.
In a pre-close update issued ahead of its annual results announcement in May, 3i Infrastructure managing partner Cressida Hogg spoke of a “clear improvement” for infrastructure investment, including “a more favourable macro-economic outlook, stabilising asset prices and more realistic price expectations among vendors”.
Alinda Capital Partners, the New York-based infrastructure fund manager which closed a new fund on $4bn earlier this year, has made a major move into the US gas storage market through the $505m NorTex Gas Storage Company deal.
The global fund has received commitments of $580m and will primarily invest in greenfield assets across the globe. It is targeting a final close of $1bn.
Robbert Coomans, adviser to the €240bn Dutch pension's board, said today at Infrastructure Investor: Europe 2010 that governments need to understand that pensions can't invest in infrastructure 'just because it's good for the economy'.
A new report by the UK parliament says the PPP contract to upgrade London’s underground rail is “flawed”, adding its voice to the many that have been criticising the project. Mayor Boris Johnson has called for the government to intervene to correct the “dysfunctional” PPP contract.
A subsidiary of the French infrastructure group will be officially awarded St. Petersburg’s $1.6bn Orlovsky Tunnel PPP next week. The project, which has been in procurement since 2007, will be two-thirds financed by the public sector with the private partner to contribute the remainder.
Was it reasonable to expect anything substantial on the infrastructure front from a pre-election UK budget? Bruno Alves takes a look.
Robert McNamara is joining Lend Lease from US construction firm Penhall/LVI, where he is chairman and chief executive. He will take office next month as chief executive and will focus on green building and PPPs.
The French infrastructure fund manager has hired Olivier Garnier, formerly of monoline Assured Guaranty, as its chief operating officer for North America and Jean François Marco, from Antin Infrastructure Partners, as a senior investment director, based in Paris.
In its latest high profile purchase, the National Pension Service of Korea is to acquire Berlin’s landmark Sony Centre from Morgan Stanley’s sixth global real estate fund.
Philippe Camu, the European head of Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners, is set to join the board of directors of Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel. Goldman became Eurotunnel’s principal shareholder after a share swap last September.
Why limited partner capital could be finding its way into the wrong funds.
The French energy group has received indicative bids for its UK electricity network. Three of the four consortia interested in the sale are thought to have submitted initial offers. But new players could still joining existing consortia, with Global Infrastructure Partners rumoured to be interested in doing so.
New Zealand investment firm Morrison & Co and investment advisory firm Craigs Investment Partners have teamed up to raise as much as $125m for a fund focused on social infrastructure opportunities in New Zealand.