Cezary Podkul

The Australian asset manager issued $250m of 10-year bonds for the holding company that owns its interest in the large US pipeline, a unique transaction that serves as proof that ‘it’s a great infrastructure asset’, according to a senior IFM executive.

Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electric Generating Holding has offered to buy 56.2% of Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund for A$0.85 per share, a deal which puts the Sydney-listed fund's enterprise value at A$813m.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is asking $70m for a parking garage located next to Boston’s North Station. Interested bidders also have the option of leasing it for 50 years for an upfront payment of $65m, according to a bid invitation.

The dry powder decreased significantly during the firm’s 2011 fiscal year because its infrastructure and real asset funds inked 22 transactions totaling A$3.5bn in equity commitments, the firm in its annual results presentation.

If long-term leases of infrastructure assets are to have a future in the US, investors have to take a more nuanced approach to how they pitch such deals to the public sector.

Government-owned businesses are looking to sell infrastructure assets in an effort to recycle capital, providing an opportunity to buy, consolidate, transform and re-sell them to long-term sources of capital, according to Benjamin Way, a Beijing-based executive at Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

A bill enabling the state’s first privately-financed toll road, the Boulder City Bypass, has passed the state Senate, where another bill enabling similar projects statewide also is under consideration.

The CIMB- and Standard Bank-backed joint venture is funding the deal from its $262m Islamic Infrastructure Fund, which recently agreed to invest $20.5m in two wind farms in Southeastern Pakistan.

The 35-member taskforce is charged with coming up with solutions to the state’s $3.5bn annual transportation funding shortfall. Republican Governor Tom Corbett is open to considering PPPs while tax increases are ‘absolutely not’ part of the solution.

More than 100 parking facilities owned by the state’s transit arm are now being considered for a potential lease, up from the previously disclosed 81. The increased deal size has also slowed the pace of the transaction, as bidders have requested more time to understand the assets involved.