In this Crossroads special edition, Inframation Americas editor Jonathan Berke discusses what are the critical issues in infrastructure in both M&A and greenfield projects across the Americas

A premium information change and business networking platform between public and private stakeholders in the country’s wind value chain. This two-day show is estimated to attract 500+ industrial stakeholders, representing Japan central and prefecture governments, home and international investors, developers, network providers, financiers and EPCs

The Indonesian government is inviting domestic and foreign bidders for an IDR 4.3trn (USD 300m) airport PPP project in West Kalimantan province.   More than 10 groups - including airport companies from Singapore, France, South Korea, Japan and China - have already shown interest, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi was cited as saying in an 8

Australia's Transurban signalled a renewed interest in North America, saying today that it has set up a senior executive panel to advise it on expansion opportunities.   “The advisory board reflects our commitment to exploring future growth opportunities in North America and brings together leaders with policy, political and practical expertise,”

DC Advisory has hired a senior infrastructure executive from HSBC as it looks to expand its debt advisory services, while another HSBC infrastructure director has joined Deloitte.   A DC Advisory spokesperson said Chris Quayle joined the corporate advisory firm as a director on Monday (7 October).   Quayle (in picture), who joined HSBC in 2011

Federation Asset Management is preparing to raise an AUD 1bn (USD 674m) renewable energy-focused fund, according to a source familiar with the matter.   The Sydney-based fund manager will tap local and Asian investors for the Sustainable Australia Real Assets Fund, which will invest in wind, solar, battery storage, pumped hydro and energy-from-waste

The Infrastructure Industry Foundation has been set up to unite the infrastructure industry in donating funds to worthy charitable causes close to the industry. Please join us for the inaugural fundraising event on 9th October 2019 at The Science Museum, London for a dinner & auction to help fight back against Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma.

Two teams are in the second round to acquire Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners’ (GSIP) 11-road Mexican highway platform Red de Carreteras de Occidente (RCO), said four sources familiar with the sitiuation.   China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) is competing with a consortium led by Italy’s Atlantia and Spain’s Abertis, added

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) today said it has signed an accord to provide up to USD 44m in loans to help finance a car logistics terminal project in a port area in Turkey.   In addition to JBIC, MUFG Bank will also provide loans, JBIC said without giving specific details.   The loan will help support construction and

A PBB Deutsche Pfandbriefbank banker has joined a French advisory boutique focused on derivatives to support its expansion into infrastructure, a source close to the process said.   PBB’s managing director for infrastructure finance Damien Legrand (pictured) joined derivatives specialist Ester Finance on Monday (7 October) as a director. His role

Two members of Lazard’s power, energy and infrastructure investment banking group in New York have resigned and are set to join rival firms, according to sister publication Sparkspread.   They are Gregory Han, a director; and Li Wynn Tan, a vice president.   Han is set to join Evercore as a managing director, and Tan is understood to be

The department of Antioquia opened a period for third parties to declare interest in a COP 401bn (USD 117m) road private initiative, according to documents published on 1 October.   The private initiative was originally presented by Estructura Plural Doble Calzada Oriente – DCO, a consortium comprised of local companies Conconcreto, Castro Tcherassi

Midstream infrastructure owner Hess Infrastructure Partners (HIP) agreed to a broader recapitalization of its business, according to a 4 October press release.   Publicly-listed Hess Midstream Partners LP (HESM) agreed to acquire HIP, which includes Hess Corporation’s and Global Infrastructure Partners’ (GIP) ownership interests, HIPs outstanding

The city of St. Louis released a request for qualifications (RFQ) for the potential "privatization" of the St. Louis Lambert International Airport on 4 October.   Responses to the RFQ are due 1 November.   After reviewing responses to the RFQ, the city will decide whether it wants to move forward with the public-private partnership (P3) procurement

Colombia received two bids for the USD 4.4bn Bogotá Metro project, officials said during a press conference held by Empresa Metro de Bogota (EMB) on 3 October.   Following a slight delay in the tender process and concerns from potential bidders, the project secured bids from two of the five remaining consortia.   The consortia that presented

A consortium of French waste operator Suez, Japan’s ITOCHU and European fund manager Marguerite have reached financial close on a PPP deal to build an energy-from -waste (EfW) plant in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.   Development Banks European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. and Oesterreichische

QIC and Royal Schiphol Group have agreed to acquire 70% of Hobart International Airport from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Tasplan, according to an announcement.   Pricing and terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Three sources close to the process said the airport sold for about 30x EBITDA, while a fourth put it at 25x-26x.   The

Whitehelm Capital announced today it had acquired the PPP concession for vocational education provider ITE College West in Singapore from Gammon Investments.    The investment was made on behalf of Australian superannuation funds MTAA Super and Prime Super, Whitehelm said.    Saji Anantakrishnan, Whitehelm’s Sydney-based head of Australia

The Bolivian government has awarded the 30-year, USD 280m Viru Viru International Airport expansion project contract to French airport developer Groupe ADP, the Ministry of Planning and Development announced on 27 September.   Groupe ADP’s fully owned subsidiary ADP International will sign the memorandum of understanding for the DBFOM 30-year

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) has added to its UK airport portfolio with the acquisition of Farnborough Airport (pictured) near London from the family business Techniques d’Avant Garde (TAG).   MIRA, which already co-owns Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton Airports with Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, did not disclose a

Global investment firm The Carlyle Group said on 30 September it has appointed two executives focused on driving value across its global portfolio.   Matt Anderson, former president and chief digital officer at Arrow Electronics, has been named Carlyle’s first Chief Digital Officer, and Stefan Grunwald (pictured), former senior vice president

EQT Infrastructure has agreed to buy a majority stake in Inexio for a “high teens” multiple, in a deal which will see the fund manager secure its fifth European fibre-optic broadband business.   The Swedish fund manager said in a statement on Saturday (28 September) that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Inexio from private equity firms

Infrastructure Capital Group has edged out First Sentier Investment's First Gas to win the auction for Brookfield's Enwave business on Friday.   Update: the names of banks providing the debt was added after publication.   ICG paid an enterprise value of between AUD 415m-AUD 420m (USD 280m-USD 284m) for the business, which includes gas distribution

British asset manager Aberdeen Standard Investments has joined an investor group that is negotiating for Solarte’s 70% stake in a Colombian highway, according to two sources close to the transaction.   The UK-based investor is working with Colombian Infrastructure Equity Fund (CIEF) and its partner Mexican asset manager EXI to negotiate a deal for

Poland's Port of Gdansk Authority is sounding out the market for a EUR 3bn (USD 3.3bn) public-private partnership, according to a senior official.   The authority is seeking global investors - including from Asia - for the Gdansk Central Port project, Mateusz Dawidowski, the agency’s chief China representative, said in a project pitch session

French investment fund STOA Infra & Energy expects to close its acquisition of a minority stake in two Brazil-based windfarms by the end of October and is negotiating another potential energy investment in Argentina, said a source close to the situation.   STOA is in the process of acquiring a 35% stake in a Brazilian wind portfolio that includes

Michael Holland, formerly OMERS Infrastructure’s head of power and renewables for the Americas, recently joined Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP).   He will work on its nascent infrastructure strategy, according to his LinkedIn profile.   Holland is listed as a partner at HOOPP Infrastructure Partners.   Holland left OMERS

Two former infrastructure executives, Michael Lindsay and Steven Robins, have returned to whence they came years ago, Infrastructure Ontario, according to their LinkedIn profiles.   As of 8 July, Michael Lindsay, a former executive at Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), returned to Infrastructure Ontario as the president of project

S&P Global has assigned theme park operator Parques Reunidos a non-investment grade B- rating following its acquisition by EQT Infrastructure, noting the combination of high financial leverage with weather and terrorism risks.   EQT Infrastructure last week announced it had secured the acquisition of Madrid-listed Parques Reunidos, which has more

AMP Capital has refinanced about AUD 930m (USD 640m) of bank debt on the Royal North Shore Hospital PPP in Sydney, it was announced today.   The deal, which reached financial close on 5 September, is the first refinancing of debt since this was recapitalised when AMP Capital and its Community Infrastructure Fund (CommIF) bought the PPP concession

IFM Investors is planning to launch an up-to USD 2bn closed-end infrastructure equity fund focused on value-add assets later this year, according to a recent limited partner presentation.   The information was revealed during Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds’ (CRPTF) monthly investment meeting on 11 September.   The pension system

An Austrian consultancy that has teamed up with China's largest EPC contractor to invest in airports is looking for more partners for the vehicle.   The first consortium is likely to be announced in the coming weeks, Airport Consulting Vienna (ACV) Managing Director Johann Frank told Inframation. The vehicle - formed together with China State

Global Infrastructure Partners and co-shareholders are close to wrapping up their sale of a 49% stake in Gatwick Airport, sources said.   The sellers are in the process of selling some or all of their remaining stakes in the UK’s second biggest airport following their sale earlier this year of a majority stake to France’s VINCI Airport, Gatwick

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets has borrowed around AUD 700m of debt from 10 banks for its AUD 1.41bn (USD 970m) ​​​​​​acquisition of Western Australia’s land titles service, according to sources.    The bank group for the Land Services WA consortium comes from Australia, Canada, China, Europe and Japan and is comprised

Kansai Airports Kobe, operated by Orix and Vinci Airports, revised upward the number of passengers using Kobe Airport under its mid-term business plan.   The operator of Kobe Airport in western Japan estimates handling about 3.48 million passengers for the current business year ending March 2020. This is around 8.4% higher than the 3.21 million

I Squared Capital is preparing for the launch of its third infrastructure fund in the coming months, said four sources briefed on the situation.    The New York-headquartered asset manager will launch ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund III with a fundraising target of at least USD 10bn in the first quarter of 2020, added those sources.    The

OMERS Infrastructure recently hired CIBC to sell some of its Canadian healthcare assets, said three sources familiar with the situation.   The Canadian pension fund manager is selling its equity interests in Niagara Health System-St. Catharine’s Hospital, William Osler Health Centre and its portfolio of long term care homes.   Teasers have

The former director of infrastructure investments for Canadian pension manager PSP Investments has joined Digital Bridge Holdings, a Florida-based owner and operator of communications infrastructure.   Geneviève Maltais-Boisvert joined Digital Bridge as a principal on its investment team, the firm announced in a 10 September press release. Her focus

Dutch infrastructure asset manager DIF has agreed to acquire the 51.7MW Cerro Grande wind farm in Uruguay from Germany’s Enercon, according to a 9 September press release.   The transaction, which is due to close before the end of 2019, is DIF’s first in Latin America following the opening of its office in Chilean capital Santiago in June this

UBS portfolio manager Vanessa Lamort De Gail has left the Swiss bank after it scrapped plans to set up a US infrastructure debt fund, according to a source close to the situation.   The departure of Lamort De Gail, who was hired to set up the planned US debt fund, comes after UBS concluded it was too difficult to break into the US market, where infrastructure

CIMIC and SPV financial adviser Macquarie Capital held celebratory drinks in Sydney's inner city suburb of Darlinghurst on 30 August to mark their win of the AUD 4.5bn (USD 3.06bn) Cross River Rail PPP in Brisbane getting underway, a full six months since the deal was awarded to a CIMIC-led Pulse consortium.   Delaying the get-together allowed

Vietnam’s new public-private partnership (PPP) law will include risk sharing and foreign currency guarantee mechanisms as part of the government efforts to invite foreign investors.   The policy changes are aimed at encouraging private sector participation in infrastructure PPPs, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI) Nguyen Dub Trung said

French infrastructure investor Ardian has joined forces with local fund manager CMB Prime to acquire an indirect 33% stake in two of Brookfield’s Chilean highways, according to a 6 September press release.     Through Ardian Americas Infrastructure Fund IV and Fondo de Inversion CMB-LV Infraestructura III, the acquirers are buying 3.02 million

French investment bank Natixis has named Helena Radzyminski as head of investment banking for Latin America, a spokesperson confirmed.   Radzyminski previously served as managing director for loan syndications at the bank. Before that, she held positions at Standard Bank, Fleet Bank and BankBoston.   Prior to Radzyminski’s appointment, the

Aberdeen Standard Investments’ buyout of the Carlsbad Desalination Plant will be partially funded by holdco debt from a South Korean life insurance company, said two sources briefed on the situation.   That same insurer is also providing a co-invest on the deal with Aberdeen Standard.   As reported, Aberdeen-Standard won an auction to acquire

Infrastructure veteran Frederic Michel-Verdier has left IFM Investors after more than a decade at the global fund manager.   IFM wrote in an emailed statement to Inframation that Michel-Verdier left at the end last week to “pursue personal business interests”.   Michel-Verdier, who was not available for a comment, is expected by sources

Australia's Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM) will soon close a sixth funding round for its Global Diversified Infrastructure Fund (GDIF) to take it to around USD 3bn from about USD 2.4bn now, sources familiar with the situation said.   CLARIFICATION: This article was amended to show the number of new investors in the sixth

Bidders for I Squared Capital's 1.4GW Asia Cube power, and water portfolio - spread across China, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam - last week submitted proposals in a second round, according to sources familiar with the matter.   There will be a bidding round in a few weeks because Asia Cube has added 70-80MW of Taiwanese solar capacity to the portfolio,

A consortium led by Plenary Group was selected as the preferred proponent for the Miami-Dade County Civil and Probate Courthouse P3 project, according to a 3 September press release.   The consortium, Plenary Group USA Concessions, comprises Plenary (developer, financial sponsor), Tutor Perini (design-build contractor) Johnson Controls (operations

Arcus Infrastructure Partners and UBS Asset Management are among infrastructure fund managers preparing final offers for Foresight Group’s UK smart meter business, sources said.   Sources close to the process said that Foresight Metering, which is being advised by RBC, received initial offers in August from UK smart meter companies and infrastructure

Three consortia that lodged expressions of interest in the North East Link motorway PPP have advanced to the bid stage, according to sources familiar with the matter.   The government is likely to name the shortlist for the AUD 7bn-AUD 9bn (USD 4.7bn-USD 6bn) project in the next couple of weeks and issue an RFP in September, according to a spokesperson

China Everbright Overseas Infrastructure Fund (COIF) recently reached final close at USD 450m after securing commitment from Korean insurer, ABL Life Insurance, as the final LP.   This is below the USD-denominated fund’s initial target of raising up to USD 1bn at its launch in 2016. The vehicle raised about USD 400m as of the end of last year.

In 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping said direct investment by Chinese companies in Latin America would reach USD 250bn over the next decade, in areas such as agriculture and livestock, as well as energy and infrastructure.   Chinese firms are already investing in Peru, especially in the mining and infrastructure sectors, and in late 2018 China

Arjun Infrastructure Partners (AIP) is beefing up its asset management capabilities with the recruitment of Adam Delaney from venture capital investor Scottish Equity Partners (SEP).   Delaney is due to join Arjun in early September, alongside Campbell Lutyen’s Nick Spencer, who has been recruited to head UK fundraising efforts, according to a source

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has concluded discussions to buy RattanIndia’s 350MW solar portfolio for an enterprise value of about INR 16.64bn (USD 250m), two people familiar with the matter said.   The deal is likely to be announced next month, they said, with one adding that the transaction will double GIP’s India solar portfolio to

Sydney-based investment banking boutique Ironstone Capital yesterday said it is rebranding itself as ICA Partners.   The exercise recognizes that Ironstone has grown into two distinct businesses: A Brisbane-based coal advisory section and a renewables and infrastructure advisory segment located in Sydney.   Michael Siede, Aaron Simcock, Al

Taiwan's government is planning to finish the first draft of the third phase of its offshore wind development agenda by the end of August, months earlier than the original date scheduled for the end of the year.   The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) will look to submit the plan on how to award the new offshore wind capacity from 2026 to 2030 for

Infrastructure Ontario shortlisted three teams for the QEW Credit River Bridge P3 project, according to a 12 August announcement.    The three teams shortlisted are :    Keystone Transportation Partners •    Applicant Lead - Peter Kiewit Sons ULC & Dufferin Construction Company •    Construction Team - Peter Kiewit Sons ULC

Denver International Airport (DEN) announced on 13 August that it is terminating its contract with Great Hall Partners (GHP) for the Denver Airport Great Hall (Jeppesen Terminal) P3 project.   In the statement, DEN said “many factors contributed to the airport and city’s decision.” The notice established the effective date for the termination as

The Bolivian Government has launched today the tender for the USD 280m expansion of the Viru Viru airport located in Santa Cruz.   This DBFOM project will be the first PPP asset built under the new Bolivian constitution (2009).   Investors will have until 9 September to submit their proposals. On 19 September the Government will announce the