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☆ Lobito Corridor: Angola’s US, Europe-backed railway could change how minerals move in Africa – and globally
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-04 | by ( Amy Gunia | Jackelyn Prager | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —In late August, a container vessel sailed out of Angola’s Port of Lobito carrying railway operator Lobito Atlantic Railway’s first shipment of copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the US. That’s about 30 days faster than a road journey, according to Francisco Franca, the CEO of Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR), a consortium of firms that took over operations of the railway in January. The ship took Lobito Atlantic Railways first shipment of copper to the US. “Lobito Corridor is not just a railway line, but is the economic development along the corridor,” said Franca, the CEO of LAR. For companies like his, the benefits of the Lobito Corridor are clear.

Persons: CNN —, Francisco Franca, Franca, LAR, Washington jostle, Emmet Livingstone, Joe Biden, “, David Reekmans, Reekmans, Asia ”, Trump, Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, Evelyn Hockstein, Xi Jinping, ”, Wamkele Mene, Décio Catarro Organizations: CNN, Democratic, Lobito Atlantic Railway, Washington, MSC, Lobito Atlantic Railways, Atlantic Railway, Initiative, Benguela Railway, Partnership for Global Infrastructure, Investment, Getty, Port, White House, Reuters, African Continental Free Trade Area, Industry Locations: Angola’s Port, Lobito, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Europe, Kolwezi, Angola, Africa’s, Beijing, Benguela, China, Africa, Washington, AFP, America, Asia, Zambia, Tanzania, Tanzanian

☆ Canada's Brookfield raises record $28 billion for infrastructure fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Canada's Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO) said on Friday it had raised $28 billion for its largest-ever fund, wagering on infrastructure assets the company believes would benefit from a shift to "deglobalization", given recent geopolitical tensions. Brookfield said the fund has already deployed 40% of its capital in six investments including renewable, transport, data center and telecom tower assets. The company, which manages over $850 billion in assets, said it had also raised $2 billion for related co-investment vehicles. Besides "deglobalization", Brookfield's latest fund will also focus on infrastructure assets tied to digitalization and decarbonization, the company said. The company had raised $20 billion for its previous global infrastructure fund in 2020.

Persons: Brookfield, Niket, Pooja Desai Organizations: Brookfield Asset Management, Thomson Locations: Brookfield, Ukraine, Bengaluru

Even including the sale of Heathrow, this year is the slowest for airport transactions in the past decade, totalling $5.9 billion globally to date, according to Dealogic data. They have hired Mediobanca (MDBI.MI) and Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) to find a buyer for a sale of their 49% stake in the company, the people said. Heathrow's sale valued the airport at 14.3 times EBITDA, according to JP Morgan analysis published on Wednesday. UK's Esken (ESKN.L), owner of regional Southend Airport, said in June it had started a process for the sale of the airport. On Thursday, Hungary's state-owned Corvinus and Vinci Airports notified the European Commission of a proposed joint takeover of Budapest's airport, according to a document posted on the EU website.

Persons: Andras Kranicz, GIP, Australia's Macquarie, Spain's, Ferrovial, Agata Lyznik, Mediobanca, Gianni, Origoni, Nico Torrisi, Morgan, UK's, France's Vinci, Vinci, Corvinus, Emma, Victoria Farr, Andres Gonzalez, Elisa Anzolin, Joanna Plucinska, Mathieu Rosemain, Anousha Sakoui, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: LONDON, Heathrow, BNP, Global Infrastructure Partners, AGS Airports, Southampton, Australia's, International, ACI, Airports, Macquarie, Credit Agricole Assurance, 2i, Credit, SAC, Gatwick, Southend Airport, Global Infrastructure Fund, Vinci Airports, European Commission, EU, Thomson Locations: Edinburgh, Italy, FRANKFURT, Spanish, Europe, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Heathrow, France, Hungary's, Budapest's

☆ Xi and Putin to reunite in China as divisions with the West sharpen
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Putin and Xi, who frequently refer to their close friendship, have met 40 times in the past decade, including twice since the start of the war in Ukraine. “And for China, having an important international player like Putin to join the BRI summit is also politically important,” he added. Chinese leader Xi Jinping inspects the honor guard at the Moscow Vnukovo Airport on March 20, 2023. Last year, Russia and China saw record trade, which continued to grow in 2023. Xi and Putin are expected to discuss the conflict in their upcoming meeting – where Russia’s war in Ukraine will also likely feature.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Ukraine –, ’, Xi, Putin, “, ”, Li Mingjiang, Xie Huanchi, “ China, Alex Gabuev, it’s, Xu Wei, Joe Biden, Wang Yi, Israel –, Li, don’t Organizations: Beijing CNN —, Hamas, Palestinian, Forum, West, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Moscow Vnukovo Airport, Getty, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, ’, Xinhua, United Nations Security, UN, Israel, Ukraine Locations: China, Beijing, United States, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Xinhua, Europe, Berlin, East, Israel, Gaza, Leningrad, Singapore

“We hope this G20 summit will show that the world’s major economies can work together even in challenging times,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week. The institutions, created in the aftermath of World War II, have long funded education, public health and infrastructure programs in developing countries. Sullivan said this week the World Bank reforms were “not against China,” noting Beijing is a shareholder in the bank. “The biggest shareholders of the World Bank are all sitting around the G20 table. The contrast between Biden’s presence at the summit – which includes a number of developing countries – and Xi’s absence will also give the American president an opportunity to highlight the US’ commitment to the developing world.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Biden’s, Jake Sullivan, Narendra Modi, Modi, India hasn’t, Sullivan, We’ve, ”, Yun Sun, Stimson, –, – Biden, “ We’ve, Xi, Putin, China –, ” Sullivan Organizations: New, New Delhi CNN, ”, Indian, West, World Bank, Bank, Initiative Locations: New Delhi, Russia, China, Ukraine, Beijing, United States, India, Ukraine –, Bali

☆ Shelved port deal will test Temasek’s private push
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Temasek is having a bad weather week. The Singaporean investor’s wholly owned port operator PSA International is shelving plans to sell its 20% stake in CK Hutchison’s (0001.HK) port business, per Bloomberg. PSA was seeking $4 billion for its stake, a touch less than what it paid. This week, Temasek itself reported a 5.2% drop in the net value of its portfolio to $285 billion in the 12 months to the end of March, as public markets remain weak. The world’s 10th-largest sovereign investor has 53% of its portfolio parked in unlisted assets, double the level a decade ago.

Persons: CK Hutchison’s, Li Ka, China's Cosco, Breakingviews, Daga, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Temasek, CK, Bloomberg, Twitter, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, HK, Hong Kong, Singapore, China

The move comes as global infrastructure funds are pouring huge sums of money to acquire capital-intensive telecom infrastructure assets in Southeast Asia, seeing strong growth opportunities. The sources said discussions are taking place for a minority stake to be sold in the decade-old Edotco, which is 63% owned by Axiata. However, three of the sources said there was a possibility that Axiata could even consider giving majority control in order to secure a deal. The sources said the bulk of the proceeds from the share sales will likely fund Edotco's business expansion. While broader dealmaking activity has fallen sharply over the past year due to weak equity markets and rising interest rates, telecom tower assets have been a bright spot.

☆ IFM increases stake in Flughafen Wien to 43%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 10 (Reuters) - IFM, through its subsidiary Airports Group Europe, acquired an additional 3.77% of Flughafen Wien (VIEV.VI), as part of its attempt to take over the Austrian airport operator, it said on Friday. This pushes IFM Global Infrastructure Fund's stake in Flughafen Wien to 43.44%. It is already the single largest shareholder of the Vienna-based firm. Flughafen Wien had reiterated last January its call not to accept IFM's offer of 34 euros per share, deeming the valuation too low and the potential delisting of the Vienna Stock Exchange contrary to its interests. Reporting by Tristan Chabba in Gdansk; editing by Matthias WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CTIL is attracting interest from pension funds including Britain's largest, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which has started preliminary work on a potential offer, two of the sources said. Telefonica, Liberty Global and USS declined to comment. A number of telecom towers deals in Europe have seen infrastructure investors compete for a slice of the continent’s largest towers networks partly because of their stable cash yield and long-term contracts. Vodafone (VOD.L) owns 50% of CTIL through its Frankfurt-based subsidiary Vantage Towers (VTWRn.DE), and is not planning to cut its holding, the people said. Telefonica and Liberty Global do not plan to ask Vantage Towers to bid for the holding for competitive reasons, according to the sources.

☆ Exclusive: Temasek's PSA evaluates multi-billion dollar exit from Hutchison Ports-sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Anshuman Daga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Port operator PSA International, fully owned by Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, is considering selling its multi-billion dollar, 20% stake in the ports business of CK Hutchison Holdings (0001.HK), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. PSA, the world's second-biggest container terminal operator, whose global network encompasses 160 locations in 42 countries, had acquired the stake in the Hong Kong-based conglomerate's ports business for $4.4 billion in 2006. Both Temasek and CK Hutchison, the conglomerate of retired billionaire Li Ka-shing, declined to comment. Temasek reported a nearly 6% rise in its portfolio value to a record S$403 billion ($297 billion) in the year to March 2022. Economic conditions have worsened since then, with global markets selling off along with a sharp increase in interest rates.

Companies BlackRock Inc FollowOct 25 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) has raised $4.5 billion out of an overall $7.5 billion-target for a new fund to invest in infrastructure assets aimed at climate-focused projects, the world's largest asset manager said on Tuesday. BlackRock, which manages around $8 trillion in assets, said public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and family offices had invested in the new fund, which will be called Global Infrastructure Fund IV. The asset manager said the new fund will invest in five sectors –– energy, low carbon power, transport and logistics, regulated utilities, and digital infrastructure –– to capitalize on the growing trend towards decarbonization and digitalization. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIts previous infrastructure fund raised $5.1 billion in 2020. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Ann Maria shibu and Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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