Cezary Podkul

Four Democratic representatives have introduced a bill that would authorise the creation of an entity to fund infrastructure projects ‘of regional or national significance’. It would be funded with up to $250bn of federal dollars that would enable $625bn of lending capacity.

The firm recognized A$417m of write downs across all its managed funds and still has unrealised losses of A$1.15bn across its 14 listed funds, many of which focus on infrastructure and real estate. It also raised A$540m of new capital in Australia, despite indications in February that it had no near-term plans to seek new capital.

Co-investments in its funds and assets continued to drive the bulk of the write downs, which will total A$2bn for its current fiscal year. The firm expects its profit to halve compared with last year's record A$1.8bn result.

The head of Global Infrastructure Partners, a firm formed by Credit Suisse and GE Infrastructure in 2006, explains why the infrastructure asset class is poised for further growth. Among other issues, hear him discuss GIP's deal for London City Airport and why he doesn't like toll roads in InfrastructureInvestor's first multimedia presentation.

DIF, a Dutch infrastructure fund manager, is buying the additional stake in the public private partnership joint venture with Netherlands-based BAM Group through its €150m first fund, DIF PPP.

The world's largest private manager of infrastructure assets also saw its fiscal 2009 half-year profit plummet 43% to A$604m. Its unlisted funds continued to post strong base and performance fees, while listed funds did not.

The European Union-focused infrastructure fund is expected to hold a second close early next year. DIF’s first infrastructure fund, DIF PPP, is now almost fully invested and its renewable energy fund is expected to be fully invested by the first quarter of 2009.

Discussing his experiences with London City Airport, GIP's flagship airport asset, Adebayo Ogunlesi also said infrastructure assets like airports are not immune to economic downturns.