Cezary Podkul

The world's largest owner of infrastructure assets will now raise third-party capital to back infrastructure GPs around the globe.

Market conditions worldwide are darkening, but the infrastructure asset class will likely be among the first to see the sun, writes Cezary Podkul.

Marking the latest step in its ongoing strategic review process, the Australian fund manager will add more independent directors to the boards of its satellite funds and alter the structure of its fee income as manager, starting with Babcock & Brown Infrastructure and Babcock & Brown Power.

The previously-announced sale of minority stakes in Copenhagen and Brussels aiports, approved by Macquarie Airports shareholders on Friday, will constitute Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund III’s debut transaction. Targeting north of €5.5 billion in commitments, it is Macquarie’s largest pan-European infrastructure fund.

The previously-announced sale of minority stakes in Copenhagen and Brussels aiports, approved by Macquarie Airports shareholders on Friday, will become the debut transaction for Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund III, a pan-European fund targeting north of €5.5bn.

Challenger will be one of the first ASX-listed infrastructure funds to enhance its public disclosures following a critical report by corporate governance advisor RiskMetrics that urged the exchange to require full disclosure of such agreements.

Unable to find a superior offer amid ’the current turmoil in the capital markets‘, Teranet’s board withdrew its opposition to OMERS’ unsolicited bid for the provider of electronic land registry services. The offer was set to expire on 17 Oct.

Michael Queen, managing partner of 3i’s infrastructure business, sees India as the top destination worldwide for infrastructure dollars during the next three years. Longer term, cash-strapped US will be the best market for infrastructure investment.

A rival bidder for the Babcock & Brown satellite, Prime Retirement Trust is seeking to force shareholder approval for significant parts of Lend Lease’s competing $236.8m offer to buy a 40% stake in the retirement village investment fund.

The city’s aldermen overwhelmingly approved the Citi Infrastructure Investors-led consortium’s $2.5bn bid to privatise Midway Airport, the largest such privatisation in the US to date.