Cezary Podkul

Private equity investors looking to finance infrastructure projects in Australia may soon have a new competitor after the Australian government agreed to accelerate the creation of its Building Australia Fund.

Difficult financing conditions continued to soften global buyout activity for private equity firms, with deal volumes plunging 72 percent in the first nine months of 2008. The oil and gas and mining sectors as well as Japan, India and the Middle East remained bright spots.

Dominique Senequier, CEO of AXA Private Equity, listed ageing infrastructure, regulation and new services among the drivers of infrastructure investment needs in OECD countries. Asian economies also face steep financing needs but offer more attractive returns.

The recommendations come as the region finds itself with rising infrastructure investment needs and limited public capital resources to meet them. Private finance initiatives, a type of PPP arrangement, have so far only accounted for 1 percent of the UKs total spend on such projects.

Dominique Senequier, speaking at a recent press lunch, listed ageing infrastructure, regulation and new services among the drivers of growing infrastructure investment needs in OECD countries. Developing Asian economies also face steep financing challenges but offer more attractive returns.

The publicly listed firm amended the terms of its unsecured revolving credit agreement, a change analysts say is necessary to preserve access to capital in a challenging environment.

The sale of the management rights and its stake in Babcock & Brown Communities comes shortly after the specialist fund manager said it would review the ownership and management rights to its listed funds as part of a restructuring effort.

The exit comes at a time when the Sydney Stock Exchange-listed infrastructure fund is looking for ways to close the pricing gap between its share price and its net asset value. It recently wrote down the value of the investment by 20 percent.

The contract award is part of the US government’s experimental program to privatise five US airports. Details of the investor group’s development plans for Chicago Midway Airport were not disclosed.

The landmark bid, whose deadline for acceptance was twice pushed back in hopes of getting Pennsylvania legislators to approve it, lapsed on Tuesday after Abertis decided not to extend it any further.