Bruno Alves
The Japanese financial services group has entered into a partnership with local export credit agency NEXI to raise a fund that will use trade insurance to invest in infrastructure projects across Asia. Reports say the new venture will seek to raise up to $1.1bn.
A second, binding round of bidding for French energy group EDF’s UK electricity network has been postponed until mid-July. Bigger than expected capex requirements and regulatory issues surrounding a £200m pension deficit are said to be behind the delay.
The government has launched a pre-qualification notice for the 30-year public-private partnership to upgrade and manage Bamako-Sénou airport. The contract will be worth about €100m with interested parties to submit their qualifications by July 30.
The UK government has suspended procurement for the Search and Rescue Helicopter private finance initiative project, awarded to an RBS/Thales consortium, because of a spending review. The review also threatens numerous projects awarded in a school-building initiative, where the UK believes it ‘has been overcommitted’.
The Greek finance ministry has announced its intention to float its 55% stake in the concessionaire that runs Athens International Airport in a deal that could be worth over €1bn. Hotchief and the Australian Infrastructure Fund own the remainder of the concessionaire.
The Australian investor, together with French developer Eiffage, has spent close to €854m to acquire a 14% holding in French road network APRR. This brings their ownership of the 2,234-km road network to over 95%.
The bank has completed the synthetic securitisation of European infrastructure loans worth £233m. It has transferred most of the credit risk through a guaranteed tranche within the deal, funded by a single institutional investor. The bank is keeping the first-loss tranche and the bigger unhedged senior tranche.
Five financial institutions have got behind the Flemish region’s landmark schools deal, which packages the construction and operation of 211 schools under a single PPP contract - awarded to a consortium of Fortis Real Estate and BNP Paribas Fortis.
Italian infrastructure fund F2i is bidding for Ferrovial’s 65% stake in Naples airport in a deal that could net the Spanish infrastructure group up to €200m. F2i's bid is one of several 'spontaneous' offers for Naples airport.
Deloitte warns the austerity measures being implemented across Europe pose ‘a real danger that the wider industry surrounding infrastructure development will shrink considerably’.