Cezary Podkul

Infrastructure investors active in the region can expect more club deals by banks and a resurgence of multilateral and export agencies as sources of liquidity, according to project finance lawyers at law firm Shearman & Sterling.

Lawmakers estimate that the cash-strapped Midwest state could raise upwards of $5bn from long-term leases of the two assets. A bill being drafted would also create a catalogue of other assets the state owns so that lawmakers can determine what else they could monetise.

The American Society of Civil Engineers also assigned a cumulative grade of D to the nation’s infrastructure. It is the fourth time the US earned that grade in the study, while the estimated spending needed to improve the state of the infrastructure continued to climb from $1.6tn in 2005.

The former Greenhill investment banker will join the ranks of five other directors at the global energy buyout firm, which is in the midst of raising its 12th energy fund targeting $12bn. Ortega joined First Reserve in 2007 and worked as a vice president.

As the struggling firm continues its negotiations with its syndicate of lenders to restructure its balance sheet, it is warning investors that any agreement will likely leave “no value for equity holders” and “negligible or no value” for holders of the company’s subordinated debt.

A new report also predicts two million jobs could be created by 2010 if global private equity infrastructure funds were geared to 60% and invested in the US alongside federal stimulus.

Global Infrastructure Partners and a consortium consisting of Citi Infrastructure Investors, Vancouver Airport Services and John Hancock Life Insurance have emerged among the bidders for the UK’s second-busiest airport.

The firm began the fundraising effort for its fifth energy fund in summer 2008 and held a first close on $670m in November. If successfully raised, it will be the largest fund it has yet raised for the sector, which has seen continued fundraising strength.

Despite the departure of George Bilicic as its head of infrastructure, the buyout shop is forging ahead with plans for its foray into the asset class.

The fund has bought out all non-Barclays investors in another Barclays private equity-managed fund, Infrastructure Investors. The transaction is meant to give the newly raised fund ‘critical mass from the outset’.