Cezary Podkul

The world's largest private manager of infrastructure assets also saw its fiscal 2009 half-year profit plummet 43% to A$604m. Its unlisted funds continued to post strong base and performance fees, while listed funds did not.

The Nordic buyout shop is the third private equity firm in the last three weeks to hold a closing on a Europe-focused infrastructure fund. EQT also joins a growing list of buyout shops that have made plans to enter the asset class this year.

As the Central American nation looks to the private sector to help it finance $3.2bn of needed infrastructure spending over the next six years, an ongoing dispute over a voided railroad concession has some investors feeling sceptical about the opportunity.

After three prior attempts to initiate takeover discussions with the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed income fund, Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of OMERS, has finally completed a long-coveted acquisition.

Primarily focused on buying publicly-traded debt and equity securities of infrastructure issuers worldwide, the fund is also authorised to buy up to 20% the same from private issuers in the infrastructure sector.

A new strategic partnership between infrastructure fund manager HRL Morrison and New Zealand asset manager Fisher Funds will form a retail infrastructure fund expected to be available to investors early next month.

Infrastructure is certainly getting to be a crowded field, but GPs don’t feel crowded out by government spending in the sector. Instead, they welcome it with open arms, writes Cezary Podkul.

A prominent UK-based infrastructure investor since its 2006 participation in the £2.8bn takeover of Associated British Ports, the M&G-managed fund has now completed its fundraising effort ahead of expectations and 60 percent invested on close.

Mark Thompson, CEO of the joint venture between the Middle Eastern investment company and the Swiss asset management giant, said they will seek to raise a second infrastructure fund in the near future. Their first joint venture infrastructure fund is expected to close early next year.

In doing so, it would become the second Babcock & Brown satellite fund to terminate its external management agreement with the specialist fund manager since it announced a strategic review process for its business earlier this year.