Cezary Podkul

Relaxing the 15-year-old rules governing airport privatisation in the US is ‘a debate worth having’, according to Jane Garvey, a former head of the federal agency in charge of the programme. A bill in Congress would significantly liberalise the rules.

The portfolio returned 13% in 2010, beating its 4% benchmark by 9%, or C$600m. The Canadian pension’s infrastructure assets are now valued at C$7.1bn, thanks in part to its acquisition of the HS1 rail link in the UK in November.

An aviation bill passed by the House of Representatives includes a provision that would double the number of airports that could be privatised in the US and make it easier to accomplish such a deal. The Senate-passed version lacks such a provision, but a conference committee could still insert the language into the final version of the bill, due out soon.

Governor John Kasich re-pitched the idea of leasing the state’s 241-mile toll road as he signed into law a $6.8bn transportation budget that also included provisions enabling PPPs. However, he cautioned that there is ‘no commitment on that yet’.

A $6.8bn transportation budget signed into law by Gov. John Kasich allows the state to pursue solicited and unsolicited PPPs for various types of projects, including highways, airports, ports and rail. Similar legislation is under consideration in several states.

If you think budget deficits can serve as a catalyst for parking deals, think again, writes Cezary Podkul.

Josh Connor, who advised on the RailAmerica and Florida East Coast rail deals, will join the investment bank in July to head up transportation investment banking within its industrials group.

The Connecticut capital’s legislators tabled a measure to request proposals for the city’s parking system, making Hartford the fourth city to see a potential parking deal collapse in city council chambers in the last year. Legislators in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and New Haven have stalled similar deals.

The dry powder built up as a result of a record fundraising year the firm marked in 2010, when Brookfield secured $18bn in third-party capital for investment from its clients, according to an annual report.

The US Department of Transportation received 34 requests for $14bn of the low-cost loans, about 12% more than the $12.5bn sought last year. Several big PPP projects are requesting loans this year, according to letters of interest published by the department.