Andy Thomson
Andy Thomson is a Senior Editor at PEI with responsibility for Private Debt Investor, the leading title focused on the world's private debt markets. Andy works closely with team members in London, New York and Hong Kong. He has been with PEI for many years, having worked previously on Private Equity International and Infrastructure Investor.
In the March 2010 issue of Infrastructure Investor magazine, Alinda Capital Partners’ managing partner Christopher Beale claims that the bubble years were effectively a 'laboratory experiment' for infrastructure investment. When GPs misplaced the fundamentals of sound investing, the experiment went wrong.
Citadel Capital founder Ahmed Heikal told PEO's sister publication Infrastructure Investor why he wants to invest up to $400m in East Africa.
Citadel Capital, the Cairo-based private equity firm, recently announced plans to invest up to $400m over the next two years in a range of sectors in East Africa, including infrastructure. InfrastructureInvestor caught up with the firm’s founder and chairman Ahmed Heikal to get the low-down on where the money will go and why – below is an excerpt of the interview.
Citadel Capital has become a significant shareholder in Rift Valley Railways, which holds a concession to run a railway line between Kenya and Uganda.
SunRay Renewable Energy, a Maltese solar power plant developer, is to be bought by Nasdaq-listed SunPower in a deal expected to close in the first half of this year.
Ahmed Heikal, founder of the Cairo-based private equity firm, has issued bullish predictions about the improvements Citadel can make to the railway. A regulatory commission is deciding whether to give Citadel majority ownership of the line and a decision could come as early as next week.
The London-based investment group has added 6MW of new capacity to its solar portfolio and announced plans to raise money for an additional 20MW to 30MW this year. Amplio has spent some €33m on solar plants over the last year.
For reasons of scale, investors in European infrastructure have so far found it difficult to access the undoubtedly attractive renewable energy space. But with small assets being rolled up into big portfolios and utilities shedding sizeable renewable interests from their balance sheets, this appears to be changing. Andy Thomson and Bruno Alves report on the opportunities and challenges of going green.
The Chinese market appears to be bestowing favours on Western GP groups previously reserved for locals. For LPs, this may mean more straightforward portfolio diversification.
Infrastructure investors should not overlook the renewables sector in 2010, which is poised to present them with some ripe investment opportunities.