Bruno Alves
The Turkish developer managed to raise $425m in debt to reach financial close on a 36-year contract to operate and increase the capacity of Turkey’s Iskenderun Port, located on the country’s Mediterranean coast.
The £170m acquisition of the Sleaford straw-fired renewable energy plant from renewable firm ECO2 is also the UK’s first project-financed biomass deal in five years. NIBC, RBS, Siemens Bank and Unicredit are providing debt for the deal.
Moody’s estimates Australia’s rated infrastructure issuers will have to raise some A$9bn to refinance existing debt. But while it states ‘issuers face increasing refinancing challenges’, Moody’s argues ‘the exercise should be manageable overall’.
Portugal’s PPP liabilities – most of them in the transport sector – represent a staggering 14% of GDP. The country’s roads agency, which doles out payments to concessionaires, is threatening to go bust in 2014. Bruno Alves takes a peak at a worrying future
Arup and the RAC Foundation have identified 96 road schemes – many possessing ‘exceptionally strong business cases’ – which are stalled due to lack of government funding. The two firms urge the use of private sector capital, but note the UK’s reluctance to tolling as a hindrance.
JP Morgan’s announcement that it is setting up a new team dedicated to infrastructure debt shows that institutional investors are interested in this investment space, especially in a low-interest rate environment.
Bob Dewing, a consultant for JP Morgan Asset Management for the past nine months, has joined the unit to create a dedicated infrastructure debt team. The new team will target ‘seasoned loans with attractive risk adjusted yields originated by project finance banks’.
Those assuming this year has seen only scant and prosaic infrastructure financings as economic woes continue, should think again. Bruno Alves and Andy Thomson identify five groundbreaking transactions
Dexia’s second bailout underlines how hard (and expensive) it will be for banks to lend long term to infrastructure in the future.
Castilla-La Mancha is nine months behind its agreed shadow toll payments for a road concession awarded to an ACS subsidiary. Moody’s says there is ‘growing evidence that Castilla-La Mancha is prioritising core expenditures ahead of its payment obligations’ to the concessionaire.