Bruno Alves
Sponsors, banks and public authorities have started on the ‘long and winding road’ to reaching financial close for the €7.8bn high-speed rail line connecting Tours and Bordeaux. But is an end of year deadline too ambitious to gather €1.6bn in commercial debt and some €800m in equity?
The fund manager is in discussions with a fourth investor to conclude the last stake sale in the ongoing equity syndication of Gatwick airport. The deal could see the Gatwick owner sell a 9 percent stake in the airport for more than £70m, maintaining a 51% controlling stake in the asset.
A team led by Italian developer Astaldi will build a 421-km highway linking Izmir to Istanbul. The highway is expected to generate revenues of $23bn over the life of the concession. Financial advisers Citigroup, Akbank and BIIS are in the early stages of putting together a debt package of close to $5bn.
The German infrastructure group has set up a special committee on its supervisory board to respond to the bid that excludes the two members from ACS currently sitting on the board. It has also hired Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank to advise it on its options.
Two of Goldman’s infrastructure funds have acquired a combined 80% stake in Endesa’s 3,800-kilometre Spanish gas distribution network for €800m. Endesa will be able to buy back the stake either five years or seven years after the closing of the deal, expected later this year.
The Colombian energy group has concluded the purchase of a 60% stake in Cintra Chile for $290m with an option to buy the remaining 40% later. The deal was delayed for several months following the Chilean earthquake.
Exxon Mobil and Shell are selling two sets of gas storage assets in Germany with different profiles but the lack of long-term concession contracts for one set of assets is causing infrastructure investors to walk away from the deal or consider realignment with industrial partners.
The Spanish construction firm has unveiled an all-stock offer to acquire full control of German infrastructure group Hochtief, in which it already owns close to 30%. ACS is offering eight of its own shares for every five Hochtief shares.
More than 220 projects currently underway in Poland may end up being procured as public-private partnerships (PPPs), a report from the Polish PPP Centre says. During the first half of 2010, Polish local authorities have announced 38 PPP projects, up from the 34 announced throughout 2009.
Investors in one of Henderson’s infrastructure funds are threatening litigation over mismanagement, while Henderson denies legal liability. Bruno Alves reports on the fallout