Cezary Podkul

Steve Sams will replace Anders Arling as president of Skanska Infrastructure Development, the public-private partnership unit of Swedish construction conglomerate Skanska.

Council voted unanimously to end the city’s pursuit of a deal to lease nine public garages to private investors, making Los Angeles the second major city to see a parking deal die in city council. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had warned that ‘the modifications, exceptions and carve-outs’ the council had written into the parking contract would seal its fate.

Richard Anthony, head of Evercore Partners Private Funds Group, said at an event in New York that ‘there will not be enough capital to satisfy all the demand’ and as a result many big-ticket fund managers will have to slash their fundraising targets. The market for infrastructure will likewise not be an easy sell.

If Congress enacts the president’s budget, $450m will be available for the low-cost infrastructure lending programme next year, nearly four times more than current levels. The TIFIA programme would also be merged into a National Infrastructure Bank capitalised at $30bn over six years.

McDermott, Will & Emery partners David Locascio and Jose Luis Vittor have joined the law firm’s Houston office as partners focused on the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects.

Brian Clarke will head up IFM’s fundraising and business development in New York while Annabel Wiscarson will do the same in London. IFM said hires will support its ‘strategic plans to make additional infrastructure investments’ in North America, Europe and Australia.

The $140bn California pension presented its investment committee with a new policy that gives greater preference to private investments and emphasises OECD markets. Director of Investment Management John Petzold said the policies will give CalSTRS ‘a more clear and focused way’ to invest in the asset class.

The state’s high-speed rail authority has issued a request for expressions of interest in the design and construction of the initial 120-mile portion of the state’s planned 800-mile high-speed rail network. Thanks to federal and state support, California already has the $5.5bn needed to build the segment.

The movement of goods and people, a key driver of activity on infrastructure assets, posted its annual first increase in two years, according to data indexes published by the US Department of Transportation.

Shemara Wikramanayake, head of Macquarie Funds Group, also disclosed in an investor presentation that Macquarie has collected A$2bn in new commitments for its infrastructure and real assets funds since 1 October, when it merged the funds with the Macquarie Funds Group.