Alexandra Atiya
Macquarie, KPMG, Greenhill, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and others will have to wait an extra three weeks to find out if they will be shortlisted to advise the state government on the possible lease of the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike. Ohio had planned to issue a shortlist of advisors last week.
The US Federal Transit Administration said the grant would cover about half of the costs of the public-private partnership, which involves construction of commuter rail lines near Denver, Colorado.
The Blackstone spin-out has reportedly secured a new commitment, taking its total fundraising to at least $800m. Stonepeak focuses on investments in middle-market North American infrastructure companies.
Alan Krueger – a labour economist who has advocated increasing infrastructure investment, extending the Build America Bonds programme and establishing a National Infrastructure Bank – will head the US Council of Economic Advisors.
Gerald Ross, who has worked with the Georgia Department of Transportation since 1982, has been selected to replace Sandra Burgess as director of the department’s public-private partnerships programme.
Daniel Sherman is leaving DLA Piper to join Greenberg Traurig’s Atlanta office, where he will focus on public-private partnerships and infrastructure deals.
At a public meeting last week, the San Diego Association of Governments presented two options for financing the $345m purchase of the South Bay Expressway. Residents and local officials showed nearly-unanimous support for the acquisition of the privately developed toll road.
The Public-Private Partnerships for Transportation Act, which passed both chambers of the Illinois legislature earlier this year, enables the state to use public-private partnerships to finance and operate new transportation projects, but forbids the lease of existing toll roads to the private sector.
KPMG, Macquarie, Greenhill, BMO, William Blair, RBC, and Morgan Stanley were among the groups that showed interest in advising the state on the potential privatisation of the Ohio Turnpike.
Together with various development banks, the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, which provides long-term debt to infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa, has agreed to loan $91.25m to a methane gas extraction facility and 25-MW power plant in Rwanda.