12
infrastructure
investor
may
2014
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
• An Interoperability Test Bed (ITB)
along Pittsburgh’s downtown rivers
which allows technology developers
to interact with operational personnel
regarding their technology develop-
ment efforts and ideas;
• A Maritime Situational Awareness
Portal, that provides environmental
information, such as weather, depth
and water quality; inland electronic
nautical chart overlays; and vessel infor-
mation; and
• Smart Lock – a virtual navigation tool
patented by the commission.
Through this project, PPC aims to
provide the river community with com-
munications and software technologies
to support towboat navigation, river ter-
minals and their intermodal connectors,
governmental record-keeping, water and
sewer authorities, environmental monitor-
ing entities, municipalities, and non-prof-
its along the river.
EUROPE
MERSEY BRIDGE PFI REACHES
FINANCIAL CLOSE
The Merseylink consortium has
announced financial close for the £600
million (€726 million; $998 million)
Mersey Gateway Private Finance Initiative
(PFI) project.
The project involves a contract to
design, build, finance, operate and main-
tain (DBFOM) a new six-lane tolledbridge
over the River Mersey near Liverpool in
the north-west of England.
Macquarie Capital, leader of the Mer-
seylink consortium, acted as lead equity
sponsor, financial advisor, debt arranger,
mezzanine debt provider and construc-
tion liquidity facility provider. Interest
rate swaps were provided by Macquarie’s
Fixed Income Currencies and Commodi-
ties division and insurance by Macquarie
Insurance Facility.
The consortium also includes Bilfin-
ger Project Investments and FCC Con-
struccion (equity co-sponsors); Samsung
C&T, FCC Construccion and Kier Group
(construction joint venture); Lafarge
Tarmac (operations and maintenance
contractor); and Sanef (tolling operator).
Senior debt financing was provided
by five commercial banks: KoFC (Korea
Finance Corporation); Lloyds; SMBC,
KfW and Credit Agricole. The financ-
ing also included a £260 million public
bond issuance wrapped by Infrastructure
UK – making Mersey Gateway the first
greenfield public-private partnership to
use InfrastructureUK’s guarantee scheme.
The new bridge will be constructed
over the next three-and-a-half years with
opening scheduled for autumn 2017.
DIF CLOSES €40M FRENCH WATER
PROJECT
DIF, the Amsterdam-based fundmanager,
has reached financial close on a wastewa-
ter concession project worth around €40
million.
The project includes the operation
and maintenance of an existing 10.1-kilo-
metre underground pipe which collects
waste water and serves seven municipali-
ties within theToulonurban area in south-
ern France. It also includes the refurbish-
ment of a 6.4-kilometre sectionof the pipe.
The deal comprises a 20-year conces-
sion agreement which gives the project
the right to collect a fixed payment per
cubic meter of water used at each indi-
vidual meter.
DIF’s third fund, DIF Infrastructure
III – which closed on its raised hard cap
of €800 million in April 2013 – has an 85
percent stake in the project with SADE
CGTH, a subsidiary of French utility and
water services company Veolia, holding
15 percent.
The deal represents DIF and Veolia’s
second partnership in the water sector
following the Delfluent water treatment
public-private partnership in the Nether-
lands. DIF increased its stake in Delflu-
ent from 8.0 percent to 43.5 percent in
February 2013.
SADE CGTH will conduct refurbish-
ment work on the Toulon project while
another Veolia subsidiary, Compagnie
des Eaux et de l’Ozone, will operate and
maintain the asset. The project is expected
to complete in January 2018.
ALLIANZGI INVESTS €433M IN
BELGIUMMOTORWAY
Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) has
invested €433million in the senior debt of
Belgium’s A11motorway development, its
eighth transaction since inception.
The investment, made on behalf of
clients, will fund the construction of a
12-kilometre motorway connecting the
Port of Zeebrugge with the E40 and E34
roads inwesternFlanders. The project has
qualified as one of the six major “missing
links” in the Flemish road network.
Mersey Bridge
: new version slated for 2017
Fast lane
: AllianzGI hits accelerator
