Andy Thomson
In a recent interview, Citadel Capital founder and chairman Ahmed Heikal told Infrastructure Investor why he has so much confidence in East Africa that he is prepared to invest up to $400m in the region over the next couple of years.
Opinions and data can often tell a different story in the infrastructure asset class.
Boasting $4bn in total, Alinda Capital Partners’ latest fundraising effort drew $2.5bn of support during the toughest 12 months for raising capital in living memory. Alinda managing partner Christopher Beale looks back on events in conversation with Andy Thomson.
Most-read news stories from InfrastructureInvestor.com over the past month:
Creative solutions from both the public and private sectors are being discussed to establish an active UK capital market.
The Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), launched in October 2009 to make the application process for large UK infrastructure projects “faster, fairer and easier”, has this week begun considering applications from the energy and transport sectors.
A new report indicates that infrastructure assets have remained fairly resilient through the crisis and there are few signs of credit deterioration. But the outlook is not yet 'definitively positive' and a number of risks remain.
Citadel Capital, the Cairo-based private equity firm, has become a significant shareholder in Rift Valley Railways, which holds a concession to run a railway line between Kenya and Uganda. Citadel says it will seek to invest more than $150m in Kenya Uganda Railways over the next five years.
Why financing structures rather than toll roads are the enemy of sensible infrastructure investing.
Although bank financing is beginning to pick up, debt availability is still well beneath pre-crisis levels, creating a clear opportunity for debt fund managers to fill the void.