AECOM is planning to reduce the scope of its infrastructure investment business function within AECOM Capital and is stepping back from P3 bidding, Inframation has learned.  Several market sources confirmed the rumors, which started circulating last week. The decision was understood to be made in the middle of October.  AECOM has made no mention

South Australia’s schools PPP project has garnered a high level of interest amid a lull in public private partnership tenders. Several bidder sources have identified around five and six groups that lodged expressions of interest (EOI) for the South Australian Schools PPP Project by the 12 October deadline. These are understood to include Macquarie

Irish-investment bank Rubicon Infrastructure Advisors has hired two new executives to work in its first Latin American office in Bogotá, Colombia, according to a 23 October company press release. Rubicon has hired Patria Investimentos’ Colombian head Andrés O’Byrne as managing director and Juan José Montoya, who until recently was executive director

Another fairly modest water asset is on the block in Australia with Jemena’s AquaNet about to go to market. Flagstaff is on the ticket as advisors to sell the niche water recycling business thought to be worth between AUD 50m-100m (USD 35m-70.6m), Inframation understands. This valuation is based on company earnings (EBITDA) of circa AUD 6m (USD

President Donald Trump signed America’s Water Infrastructure Act (S.3021) into law on 23 October. The bill authorizes harbor, waterway, flood protection and other water infrastructure projects, and reauthorizes the WIFIA loan program. The Senate passed the bill by a 99-1 vote on 10 October. The House of Representatives approved the bill unanimously

Four to five teams have returned qualifications for the Regional Express Rail (RER) package 3 project, Inframation has learned. Three out of the four teams which submitted proposals will be shortlisted said a source familiar with the procurement. The evaluation could take two months as there is a lot of material to go through, the source added. The

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has declined to comment a UK broadcaster report that it is in talks to buy a stake in Gatwick Airport.  The report said the Canadian pension fund is part of a group of investors proposing to buy GIP’s 42% stake in Gatwick in a deal that could value it at more than GBP 3bn. In August Inframation reported

Chilean firm Trends Industrial is in talks with international companies interested in investing in its USD 500m solar-powered desalination project, CEO Rodrigo Silva told Inframation. The company is seeking partners to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which would be controlled by Trends and other equity investors, Silva said. The project SPV is named

Debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Services (IL&FS) has appointed advisors to assist in its asset sale program. The seven-member board of IL&FS, appointed by the federal government earlier this month, has selected Arpwood Capital Pvt and JM Financial Consultants Pvt as financial and transaction advisors to the IL&FS Group, the company said in

HNA Infrastructure, a key unit of acquisitive Chinese conglomerate HNA, has pulled its focus back to aviation-related projects in Hainan province. The company on Friday (October 19) agreed to sell a Shenzhen-based construction firm to Tianji Wealth Management for RMB 1.385bn (USD 199m). This follows a move by its unit HNA Airport Group earlier this

Executives at Swedish construction company Skanska have said the company will stop bidding for large construction P3s in the US after experiencing cost overruns on two projects. The executives said on a Thursday (18 October) earnings call that Skanska made project write downs of SEK 0.9bn (USD 100m) related to two US P3s that have come across delays

Chinese and Spanish investors have signed an exclusive development agreement with the government of Democratic Republic of Congo to develop a USD 14bn hydropower project in the African country. The China Inga III and Pro Inga of Spain consortia, respectively led by China Three Gorges and Spain’s ACS Group, will form a single consortium and update feasibility

Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton has said that the high prices recently paid for infrastructure assets have not indicated the kind of over leveraging which occurred before the financial crisis. Transurban is famed for building its business partially on savvy purchases of distressed toll roads that were often built based on overoptimistic traffic

UK infrastructure investor John Laing has provisionally agreed to purchase the 128 MW (dc) Cunderdin solar project in Western Australia from Sun Brilliance, Inframation sister title SparkSpread has learned. KPMG is advising on the equity sale and also a debt raising. Any John Laing purchase would be conditional on Cunderdin securing a power purchase

The Western Santiago Metropolitan Hospital (former Felix Bulnes), is assessing information regarding the potential impact from the situation at Astaldi, its parent company, the SPV said in a market release. The Astaldi-controlled SPV said in the filing that the company is up to date with its current obligations and that it expects to finish the construction

Zuma Energía engaged Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) to sell the Mexican energy company, Inframation understands. British fund manager Actis and Costa Rica-based Mesoamerica currently own Zuma in a 70:30 equity split. The partners launched a sale process in July and received an unspecified number of non-binding bids last week, according to two

Risen Energy is eyeing a 2GW global renewable project pipeline by the end of 2019 as part of the Chinese solar developer’s overseas investment push. It is also mulling investments in energy storage projects and other renewables, targeting Australia and countries along the Belt and Road, a spokesperson told Inframation. “We are looking at the

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is close to an agreement to sell its 42% stake in London’s Gatwick Airport, sources said.  The New York-headquartered infrastructure investor has been in advanced talks over the sale of its stake in the airport and could announce an agreement on the sale in coming weeks, two sources following the process said. A

Macquarie Infrastructure Partners (MIP) has chosen Evercore as an advisor on the sale of its North American port assets, said three sources briefed on the situation. The process is still at an early stage, the sources added. The assets comprise Penn Terminals in the US, and Fraser Surrey Docks and Halterm Ltd in Canada. They were owned by MIP I and

In an attempt to address a hegemony of funds in the North American P3 market, Infrastructure Ontario has taken a progressive new approach to procurement. Abigail Miller and Jon Berke analyze the barriers to entry that have caused this hegemony and look at how IO plans to change it.  The public-private partnership (P3) market in the United States and

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) is understood to have signed-up three new European investors to its global infrastructure fund, as the net asset value of the fund’s investments exceeds EUR 8bn. The New-York headquartered asset manager, which has been fundraising for its open-ended fund since 2007, is understood to have raised commitments for

Indicative bids for Brookfield Infrastructure's majority-owned Flow Systems are due late next week, Inframation understands.   A source who has seen the IM told Inframation the sale timeline for the multi-utility water services provider is opaque, with no indication if there will be a final bid round. As reported, shareholders are hoping to hit

I Squared Capital-backed Cube Highways is in talks with Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) to acquire one more road project from the developer, Inframation has learnt. HCC is close to acquiring a 100% stake in Baharampore-Farakka Highways Ltd (BFHL), a source said. Last month, HCC signed a definitive agreement with Cube to sell 100% of Farakka-Raiganj

Infracapital transaction director has resigned from his role at the infrastructure investor to join KKR’s European infrastructure team, it is understood. Signori joined London-based Infracapital in 2012, having previously been global co-head of utilities and infrastructure in the M&A team at Commerzbank.   At Infracapital, his roles included

The AUD 646m (USD 455.8m) refinancing of Peninsula Link PPP has been signed off, with a mixture of Asian and Australian debt lining up for one of the bigger refi deals of 2018. As previously reported the new debt structure involves two tranches, including a 10-year tranche, marking a doubling of the existing tenor facility, advisors Plenary confirmed

IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and commodity trader Trafigura agreed to invest in certain assets owned by Trafigura’s Impala Terminals unit, according to an 8 October press release. Trafigura enaged Citi earlier this summer to sell a 50% stake in Impala’s Latin American operations. Not all of the assets are included in this current announcement.

The Merced County Employees Retirement Association (MCERA) approved two commitments for its infrastructure portfolio during its latest board meeting, a spokesperson for the pension fund told Inframation. The pension selected Ardian Infrastructure Fund V and Blackrock Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund 3. MCERA committed USD 5m to each vehicle. During

Phoenix Tower International secured USD 485m in new funding and acquired two portfolios of wireless assets in the Caribbean last week, according to recent company press releases. The Boca Raton, Florida-based company, majority owned by the Blackstone Group, secured a USD 495m credit facility from a Scotiabank-led syndicate to fuel expansion plans. This

HSBC has beefed up its global infrastructure team with new hires in Hong Kong and London as booming M&A markets fuel demand for its services.  The bank has added six new staff to its Infrastructure and Real Estate Group (IRG), including Helen Li and Nikolay Iankov from Bank of America Merril Lynch (BAML) and Macquarie’s Giulio Hoffmann. Li will

Fengate Real Assets Investments hired Krudo de Jesus as a vice president in the firm’s infrastructure division, according to an 5 October press release. Jesus joins the Toronto-based firm from EllisDon Capital, where he spend nearly three-and-a-half years on the infrastructure team. At EllisDon, Jesus managed projects including the Ottawa light rail

A consortium led by China’s HNA Group has told the Bulgarian government it will not sign the concession agreement to run the Plovdiv Airport after being awarded the tender. The Bulgarian government said Thursday (4 October) the Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications' chair Rosen Zhelyazkov will propose to Bulgaria's Council

ProInversión presented to a group of investors on 28 September in Cusco an updated portfolio of 50 projects with an estimated total investment of over USD 11.15bn to be awarded in the next two years. Peru projects approximately USD 3.84bn of that total will be awarded by the end of the year, according to the presentation. According to Inframation

Chinese ports group COSCO has engaged JP Morgan to sell the lease on Long Beach Container Terminal, Inframation has learned. COSCO committed to the auction this past summer as a result of deal struck with US regulators to allow it to proceed with its USD 6.3bn acquisition of Orient Overseas International (OOCL). An OOCL spokesperson declined comment

Despite enormous water demand across Latin America, private investment into the sector has been slow and patchy. Can Blackrock’s immiment financing of the Rosarito desalination plant in Mexico provide a template for investors looking at the region, asks Tiziana Barghini The Rosarito Beach Water Plant is going to be one of the largest desalination plants

A 16-bank syndicate provided the AUD 1.1bn (USD 786.3m) bridge facility which enabled Transurban's acquisition of a 51% stake in Sydney Motorway Corporation, Inframation can reveal. Transurban closed the deal for the group, which is delivering the USD 6.7bn WestConnex project to expand Sydney's motorway network, last Thursday (27 September).  The

A Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA)-managed fund has agreed to buy the waste-to-energy facilities specialist Wheelabrator Technologies for an undisclosed sum from Energy Capital Partners. The deal was signed last week by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners (MIP) on Tuesday (2 October), following the US private equity fund’s launch of a dual-track

China has staked its political credibility on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but – five years in – it is hitting a wall. Projects are being cancelled and China cannot carry all remaining BRI projects alone. If it is to succeed, the initiative needs international investors to buy-in. But will they? Solomon Teague and Colin Leopold report   The

A new UK government strategy and GBP 400m fund are set to drive investors into electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. But they must first navigate through revenue uncertainty to find opportunities in retail services and arbitrage, as Nick Roumpis reports It’s no secret that electric vehicles (EV) are expected to dominate the automotive

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Mexican fund CKD Infraestructura México (CKD IM) closed on the acquisition of 80% of eight projects in Mexico owned by Enel for USD 1.4bn, according to a 28 September press release. The portfolio of assets totals 1.8GW, split between 1.1GW of solar projects and 0.7 GW of wind assets. All of the

Andrew Faber, the former head of origination at Hastings Funds Management and four other Hastings people, have found a home at First State Super (FSS) following Hastings' demise. The team is just a few of the Hastings employees that jumped quickly to new roles after Hastings stopped all business in Australia following the takeover of the last large

John Laing is buying a majority stake in Canberra-based developer Maoneng’s 255 MWp Sunraysia solar project, market sources have told Inframation's sister title SparkSpread. The UK infrastructure investor is buying 90.1% of the project, according to one source, with the developer retaining a long-term minority holding. The project is scheduled to

China’s Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) International is interested in investing in renewable and infrastructure projects in Moldova. Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Tudor Ulianovschi said the state-owned engineering firm plans to start developing a solar park and national road projects between the end of 2018

A joint venture led by French developer ENGIE is in talks with lenders for a long-term debt worth approximately USD 500m to fund a roughly 700MW renewable energy portfolio in Mexico, three sources briefed said. Japanese company Tokyo Gas is understood to have recently joined ENGIE in an equity partnership that will develop renewable capacity in the country. BBVA,

DIF is understood to be close to finalising an equity investment in the new 35MW Kwinana energy-from-waste (EfW) plant owned by developer Phoenix Energy. Adviser and co-sponsor on the asset, Macquarie Capital, has been seeking a buyer for some time for the project, which looks like being the first household EfW project to reach financial close in Australia. Two

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) has shortlisted three of the four teams that had answered the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Gilcrease Expressway West P3 in Oklahoma. The three shortlisted teams are:  AECOM Energy and Construction Inc., Duit Construction Company and Wells Fargo Securities Manhattan Sherwood Joint Venture

Natixis’ infrastructure team is looking to collaborate more with PJ Solomon’s advisory practice as it looks to grow its platform, Nasir Khan, the recently-appointed head of infrastructure for the Americas, told Inframation.  “The ambition here is to grow the Americas infrastructure platform into a market-leading one and a one-stop shop for our

Public bodies in Italy are gearing up to sell a stake in a major airport concessionaire in a deal expected to value the whole business at some EUR 500m, amidst growing demand for the sector which might be dampened by the country’s current market climate. The Chamber of Commerce of Catania and Western Sicily own 61.2% in the airport concessionaire

Troubled concession group IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd’s (ITNL)’s asset sale plan has hit a roadblock after a court restrained the company from selling assets.  Aditya Birla Finance Ltd., one of the creditors of two ITNL project special purpose vehicles, approached the Delhi High Court to recover its dues from company which had total liabilities

Atlantia subsidiary ASPI and the Italian government are preparing to unwind the concession contract for the collapsed Genoa bridge. Termination, revocation and questions around compensation levels are all on the table, as Antonio Fabrizio reports It has been an exceptionally difficult month for Atlantia. Since 14 August, its Autostrade

Medellín’s water and energy utility company Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) has mandated Santander as sellside advisor on the sale of a 10.17% stake in Interconexión Eléctrica (ISA), according to a spokesperson. EPM plans to sell up to COP 3.5-4trn (USD 1.32bn) of assets to provide liquidity to confront the financial costs associated with the

The August edition of the Inframation #Crossroads podcast looks at fundraising, what the funds are looking at and rampant brownfields activity in our LatAm territories.    

Global Infrastructure Partners is aspiring to reach a first close on their latest fund, Global Infrastructure Partners IV (GIP IV), before the end of the 2018 calendar year, multiple sources familiar with the situation told Inframation. The manager launched fundraising for the fund earlier this year with a target of USD 18bn, as previously reported. Inframation

A group of private sector Chinese investors have launched a Belt and Road (BnR) Industrial Cooperation Investment Fund focusing on infrastructure and energy projects overseas. China Guangcai International Investment, a conglomerate, formed the fund along with B&R Taiwan Economic Association, as well as a Shanghai-based unit of Central Newsreels and Documentary

A raft of new investors have backed the JP Morgan Infrastructure Investments Fund (IIF) over the past few months, Inframation can reveal.  New commitments have come from the AA Ireland Pension Scheme, Sandooq Al Watan Investments – an Abu Dhabi-based initiative launched by Emirati businessmen to support research projects for the post-oil era, FBD Insurance

Under an ex-Deutsche Bank president, Cantor Fitzgerald has raided Jefferies and Credit Agricole to create an advisory dream team targeting power and infrastructure. But with no balance sheet of its own, what kind of investment bank adviser is it, asks Colin Leopold Sometime during the middle of 2016, the head of a mid-sized Wall Street brokerage and

The Mexican Secretariat of Energy, Sener, disclosed in its website that seven consortia were pre-qualified for the tender process of the Baja California-Sonora 700km transmission line North of the country. The consortiums are: IEnova – Manitoba Iberdrola Sterlite Power Grid – RTE International China Electric Power Equipment and Technology

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets is set to be anointed the AUD 2.5bn The Infrastructure Fund (TIF)'s new external manager. TIF is also fundraising from existing and new investors to begin investing again in Australian and offshore assets. TIF trustee, Gardior, would not comment on which of the two final candidates it had chosen, but in an

Singapore-based David Luboff, an executive director at Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in Singapore, has resigned to join KKR & Co. Market sources told Inframation's sister title SparkSpread Luboff will head KKR's regional infrastructure effort. Luboff had worked at Macquarie for 19 years. He was a senior member of the infrastructure team

Singapore-based David Luboff, an executive director at Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in Singapore, has resigned to join KKR & Co. Market sources told Inframation's sister title SparkSpread Luboff will head KKR's regional infrastructure effort. Luboff had worked at Macquarie for 19 years. He was a senior member of the infrastructure team

US-private equity investor BlackRock has placed up to USD 500m in 15-year Project Investment Certificates (CERPIs) on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), according to public filings.  While BlackRock’s previous two Mexican funds were Capital Development Certificates (CKDs) and thus restricted to investing exclusively inside Mexico, the CERPI vehicle