Siddharth Poddar

Veronica John-led IDFC Capital, a subsidiary of India's Infrastructure Development Finance Company, has set up shop in Singapore and made new hires as it prepares to raise a $500m emerging markets fund of funds.

TPG and Global Infrastructure Partners have reportedly offered to invest more than A$1bn in the Australian ports operator through the purchase of convertible notes, after their initial buyout bid for the company was rejected.

Two months after resigning as chairman of the troubled Australian infrastructure specialist Babcock & Brown, Jim Babcock has relinquished his post as non-executive director for personal reaons. He remains a 'significant shareholder'.

Three large deals that have recently fallen apart show private equity activity in Asia is not immune to the global financial crisis, writes Siddharth Poddar.

The Indian Infrastructure Fund, initiated by IDFC and the Indian government, aims to raise $5bn in debt and equity to invest in India's transport, telecommunication infrastructure and power sectors.

Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek Holdings will own Singapore's airport by July 2009. The government decided to privatise the airport to give it 'greater flexibility' in a deal that is estimated to be worth up to $2bn.

The Singaporean sovereign wealth fund could fetch an estimated $2.5bn in what will be its third power company sale in 2008.

The global alternatives manager has closed its first large Chinese acquisition more than a year after agreeing to invest in the state-owned chemicals company Bluestar.

Xiao Wei joins Anoop Seth as co-head of AMP's Asian infrastructure team, which is currently raising a $750m 'Asian Giants' infrastructure fund that agreed its first deal last month.

Private equity investments in New Zealand fell by more than 90 percent in the first half of 2008, compared to the same period last year.