Bruno Alves
If infrastructure, like the wider economy, had its private sector debt bubble peaking in 2007, then, like in the wider economy, it should only be a matter of time before its own sovereign debt crisis bursts onto the scene.
The Italian infrastructure investor was said to be seeking €100m in damages over the failed placement of an infrastructure fund in 2007. Both parties say the dispute has been resolved ‘amicably’, without mentioning if any damages were paid.
The Franco-Dutch consortium has been awarded a 20-year contract with no traffic risk to widen and refurbish a 46.5km section of Germany’s A9 motorway. Financial close on the availability-based contract is expected over the next couple of months.
A subsidiary of the private equity group has secured the backing of nine banks to help fund the €1.2bn project – ‘the first German wind farm to be fully financed by private investors’. Blackstone has also acquired a licence to build another offshore wind farm worth €1.3bn.
The firm has secured the backing of nine banks to help fund the €1.2bn project – ‘the first German wind farm to be fully financed by private investors’.
The EIB hopes that its project bond initiative will help it gracefully step back from the prominent lending role it has assumed following the global financial crisis. But the new initiative may originate another cycle of EIB-dependence.
The European Investment Bank is facing one of its most daunting challenges: creating a vibrant infrastructure bond market that will one day stand on its own two feet. The bank’s president, Philippe Maystadt, tells Bruno Alves why he’s itching to make this happen sooner rather than later
The ratings agency has said in a note that the EIB’s proposals to get the capital markets back into infrastructure financing ‘would be capable of credit-enhancing PPP project bonds from low investment-grade to single-A ratings’.
Philippe Maystadt, the president of the European Investment Bank, revealed in an exclusive interview that he would like to test the bank’s initiative to credit-enhance private sector infrastructure bonds before its scheduled launch date of 2014.
A consortium led by Vinci has raised €3.8 billion in debt and equity from ten banks to reach financial close for the €7.8 billion Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line, in France.