The German developer will list the fund on the London Stock Exchange in November and will use proceeds to buy a portfolio of 20 mostly operational seed projects from its own concessions unit. The fund will not charge fees on future deals.
Bahrain’s Muharraq wastewater treatment plant public-private partnership has reached financial close. The $320m project, led by a consortium including Abu Dhabi fund manager Invest AD, is the first PPP to reach close in the Middle East this year and Bahrain’s first such deal in the wastewater sector.
The seven consortia lined up to bid for the two airport privatisations – including the likes of Ferrovial, Allianz, AXA, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Industry Funds Management, Global Infrastructure Partners and Abertis – have until October 31 to submit their bids.
Albion Ventures, which manages £235m of venture capital trusts, has completed its first investment in the wind sector and is seeking to increase its portfolio exposure to renewable energy from 5% to 15%.
French public-private partnerships accounted for 57% of the €9.7bn in projects that reached financial close during the first half of the year. A number of large transactions helped keep first half figures in line with the first half of 2010, but the number of deals closed dropped from 58 to 47.
The UK’s second-largest pension fund has hired Gavin Merchant, formerly a director at public-private partnership investor Equitix, to become a senior investment manager focusing on direct infrastructure investments.
The unlisted Benelux-focussed infrastructure fund has partnered with Ballast Nedam to form the Benelux Secondary PPP Fund I, which was seeded with three assets worth about €700m. DG Infra Yield has raised €116m and is targeting a final close of between €150m and €200m.
The Swiss private markets manager has invested in Sorgenia France, a French wind energy joint venture established by US alternative assets firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Italian energy company Sorgenia in June.
A World Bank push will provide more capital for Asian infrastructure – good news. Double good news will come when structural issues are addressed
Philippe Taillardat will join Danny Latham in co-heading First State’s European infrastructure unit. He will be based in Paris, in the firm’s first office in continental Europe. First State has raised almost €600m for its European infrastructure fund.
The London-based fund manager has appointed former Macquarie senior managing director Erich Becker as co-head of its renewable energy and environmental infrastructure team. The firm has just launched a new fund, which will broaden its infra strategy from solar to renewable energy in general.
Ferrovial, Allianz, AXA, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Industry Funds Management, Global Infrastructure Partners and Abertis are part of the seven consortia that have lined up to bid for the two airports in a deal that might net the government upwards of €10bn.
The French fund manager has acquired Idex, billed as ‘France’s largest independent energy and environmental services company’, from private equity firm IK Investment Partners for an undisclosed amount. Idex posted sales of €525m as of February 2011.
Lord Stern, who produced a landmark report on climate change, is part of a group of nine advisors appointed by the government to help 3i’s Sir Adrian Montague set up the UK’s Green Investment Bank.
Limited partners, especially pension funds and life insurers, will readily tell you that they like infrastructure because of its long-term, stable cash-flows. So why do they prefer infrastructure funds with 10- to 12-year life-cycles?