April 2024 News, Insights & Events

Exploring Brazil's strategy to attract private capital for investments in land transport

Our Policy & Public Affairs Manager, Nick Elliott, joined a roundtable at the Brazilian Embassy in London, discussing investment opportunities in Brazil's land transportation sector.

GIIA heads to Paris for the launch of the OECD Blue Dot Network (BDN)

Our Head of Policy & Public Affairs Harvey Chandler and Chief Executive Jon Phillips headed to Paris for the launch of BDN, which aims to help mobilise private sector infrastructure investment.

GIIA's chief executive featured on Partnerships Bulletin's latest podcast episode

Jon Phillips discusses GIIA's 100-member milestone, his vision for our future, delves into the investor landscape and the pivotal role investors play in driving the energy transition.

Emerging leaders explore solutions driving a low-carbon future for heavy industry

Hosted by Macquarie Group, we convened our Emerging Leaders in Infrastructure network to explore five trends for investors in the drive to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries.

Global partnership with Schulich seeks to address worldwide infrastructure gap

We're partnering with Schulich Real Assets to empower future leaders with tools and resources for sustainable infrastructure projects worldwide, and tackle the climate crisis.

From our CEO

Four months into the year and the GIIA team is working flat out across our programme of global advocacy, research and events.  It’s that time of the year where we are in full delivery mode on several workstreams already underway, whilst also in planning mode to ensure our ambitions for the rest of the year are taking shape.

Thanks to the many members who joined our AGM this month, for those unable to join us, the main business was to formally appoint five new members to the Board.

Our podcast 'Talking Global Infrastructure’ is building a decent following. If you haven't already done so, follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or if you fancy taking a turn behind the microphone, drop us a line. Earlier this month, I was pleased to join Partnerships Bulletin's ‘3 Ps In a Pod’ podcast, which was great fun to do.

Harvey and I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up face-to-face with our Paris-based members on a recent trip to attend the OECD Infrastructure Forum. Our advocacy work in the UK continues to be dominated by concerns around regulation and its impact on the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for private capital. This was also the backdrop to a panel discussion moderated at the Innovation Zero conference in London; thanks to GIIA members from I Squared Capital and Columbia Threadneedle for joining the discussion and bringing the international investor perspective.

We will shortly be publishing some new research to shine a light on the vital role of UK pensions funds in the UK’s infrastructure.  Meanwhile, planning is advanced for our forthcoming trip to the US to take part in Infrastructure Week, and I look forward to catching up with US-based members and stakeholder at our GIIA-hosted events.

We await results from our latest Pulse Survey to see whether investor sentiment has moved in any of our key markets. We also expect the results of our annual global asset database research will soon be available, when we will find out how much GIIA members’ combined AUM has grown since last year’s valuation of $1.6 trillion.

Our annual UK parliamentary reception, sponsored by Curzon, will soon be upon us, so if you haven't signed up yet, please do so here. We are also excited about the interest members are showing in our first ever Sustainable Futures conference in May sponsored by UBS, CMS and KPMG and our planned event in Singapore in August, in partnership with CMS. I am very much looking forward to flying the GIIA flag down under for the first time, as I will be heading to Sydney and Melbourne for the first week of September.

Finally, I would like to highlight our latest partnership. GIIA has entered into an industry/academic partnership with the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. We will be helping to promote Schulich as an educator of future leaders in sustainable infrastructure and finance, and in return get access to research and insights that support our global advocacy work.

Get Involved

Rooftop cocktails in Washington

GIIA members are invited to join us and Sullivan & Cromwell at their offices in Washington, D.C. for a networking reception with spectacular views, as we gather industry leaders during Infrastructure Week.

Date: 15 May 2024

Location: Sullivan & Cromwell, Washington, D.C.

Highlight of Infrastructure Week

We are delighted to invite GIIA members to join us in New York, in partnership with Ferrovial Airports, to an organised site visit to the new Terminal One at JFK Airport, as part of US Infrastructure Week.

Date: 16 May 2024

Location: Terminal One JFK Airport, New York

Investing in a sustainable future

We invite our members to attend our full-day conference in London, alongside our sponsors UBS, KPMG and CMS, as we convene practitioners, industry experts and government bodies as we focus on the sustainable and responsible infrastructure investment.

Date: 29 May 2024

Location: UBS Office, London

Exploring offshore wind policy and investment

We're pleased to be partnering with City & Financial Global in London as we gather industry leaders to discuss the fast-paced growth and advancement in the offshore wind energy market within the UK and Europe.

Date: 4 June 2024

Location: London

Asset classes of tomorrow

Members of our Emerging Leaders in Infrastructure group are invited to join us at our 2024 Summer Reception, hosted by DLA Piper. We'll explore the trends driving developing asset classes and how they’re transforming the next generation of infrastructure investment.

Date: 13 June 2024

Location: DLA Piper Office, London

Join us in the Houses of Parliament

GIIA members are encouraged to join us and our event sponsor Curzon at the House of Commons for our exclusive annual Parliamentary Reception for speeches and networking.

Date: 19 June 2024

Location: House of Commons Terrace, London

Want to contribute?

We work with our members to produce a range of events, reports and insights across the year. If you would like to contribute to our planned agenda, please get in touch by emailing events@giia.net. We’d love to hear from you.

Market spotlights

US news

By David Quam, Senior US Advisor and Alessandro Pecorari, Policy & Public Affairs Manager

April has seen the convening of the NGA Northeast Regional Project Delivery Workshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The workshop – part of an initiative to address the diverse challenges and opportunities of each American region – brought together Governors’ Infrastructure Coordinators, advisors from Northeast states, federal officials, as well as GIIA and its members to discuss infrastructure project delivery and coordination challenges. Topics included: offshore wind, hydrogen, as well as EV infrastructure and public transit. This meeting was the second in the Regional Project Delivery series, and the next workshop is set for the Midwest region this summer, with details to follow.

At a state level, a P3 bill has been signed into law by Alabama Governor, Kay Ivey. This law will make it easier for airports in Alabama to enter public-private partnerships (P3s). Authored by Republican, Chip Brown, House Bill 87  will allow private companies to take on a share of ownership which would streamline project delivery. The state has 73 airports, which collectively hold $117 million in debt and need $1.3 billion to upgrade infrastructure, according to a 2023 report from Airports Council International. These state-level initiatives are a great first step in bridging the funding gap, and delivering modernized, state-of-the-art airports for citizens across the United States.

The Florida Legislature recently amended a section of the P3 Law allowing responsible public entities such as counties, cities, and special districts to enter more easily into P3 deals. This will be regulated through an alternative, streamlined process for accepting unsolicited public-private partnership proposals. The passing of House Bill 781 means that form July 1st, public entities in Florida will now be able to accept unsolicited P3 proposals without undertaking a public bidding or solicitation process. Moreover, the related P3 agreement will no longer require that the public entity ultimately own the unsolicited proposal project.

Such legislation puts forward a model for other states for how they can improve, modernise and streamline existing P3 laws, or if P3 laws are absent, how they can legislatively develop them.

We are organising events during ‘Infrastructure Week’ in May, which will include an ‘Industry Rooftop Reception’ in Washington, D.C. This will be a chance for infrastructure stakeholders – including GIIA members, trade and business associations, officials, and policymakers – to meet, discuss and network.

UK news

By Nick Elliott, Policy & Public Affairs Manager

Challenges persist in the water sector, casting a shadow over wider discussions regarding the future of private investment in UK infrastructure.

This month has seen instances of investors adopting firm positions, branding water companies as increasingly uninvestable. There are clear concerns that the sector's predicament poses a threat to investment in other essential infrastructure in the UK. GIIA continues to amplify the investor perspective, ensuring it resonates in decision-making forums.  We have also been engaging on the immediate threat of dividend penalties, which directly jeopardises water company investors' ability to implement their ambitious investment plans for Asset Management Period 8 (AMP8).

We attended a very constructive meeting with officials from the Department for Business & Trade, who remain very focused on supporting the sector. Our efforts to expand interaction with regulators have also been fruitful. Attending the Regulator Forum’s ‘Chair Summit’ provided an excellent platform to grasp regulators' strategies and ensure the investor perspective is considered.

In our ongoing engagement with the Labour Party, we participated in an investment policy roundtable, chaired by the Shadow Minister for Investment, presenting our policy recommendations from the ‘Investing in the Future’ report we commissioned last year. We hope to offer members direct engagement opportunities with Labour regarding the outcome of their ‘major infrastructure projects’ review, which we expect to be published shortly.

On the policy front, our response to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero's second review of electricity market arrangements (REMA) consultation is well underway. We're emphasising in our response that any reforms should be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, to maintain vital stability for investors. We await the imminent outcome of the Department for Business & Trade’s final ‘smarter regulation’ consultation.

As always, if you're interested in contributing to our policy work, please don't hesitate to reach out.

We look forward to welcoming members to our 2024 Parliamentary Reception on June 19th, taking place on the House of Commons’ Terrace. GIIA members can register here.

EU news

By Harvey Chandler, Head of Policy & Public Affairs

With just over a month remaining until the EU's parliamentary elections, the agendas of the EU political groups are becoming increasingly clearer, with defence, migration and EU competitiveness common themes across manifestos.

In parallel, Ursula Von Der Leyen is continuing to balance on a tight rope, as she confronts the pushback against the EU's ambitious green deal agenda, whilst seeking to reconfirm her second term as President of the European Commission.

Current indications point to a less ambitious programme of new green deal initiatives in the form of new legislation in the 2024-29 term, as emphasis remains on implementation and how to address the significant funding gap needed for the EU to meet its ambitious agenda linked to the clean and digital transition.

As we continue to brief EU institutions on investor needs to unlock capital, GIIA will be looking to create more opportunities for direct engagement with incoming parliamentarians and Commissioners. If you're interested in engaging in this activity through our EU Working Group, please get in touch.

Reforms to the EU’s electricity market design are expected soon, following ratification in April by the European Parliament. The reforms – which maintain existing rules on capacity mechanisms, but incentivise the uptake of longer-term contracting tools – could be reviewed again further into the next parliament, as the EU works to ramp up the use of low-carbon electricity even further, and building in price stability mechanisms. Following our inputs on electricity market redesign, GIIA is now working with the Commission to unlock grid and renewables investments to meet 2030 goals.

The first high profile enforcement action under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) took place in late April. Commission officials and national authorities carried out unannounced inspections of a Chinese company in its offices across several EU member states.

The inspections are part of an in-depth investigation into the company, and it is not yet clear what enforcement action was taken, or whether the company received what the Commission deems to be distortive foreign subsidies – a core component of what the regulation seeks to mitigate against.

The news also follows a round of new initiatives announced in January, aimed at enhancing economic security, whilst upholding openness to investment. Although this is a specific case, GIIA is continuing to monitor how the FSR is working in practice, and changes to the EU’s wider FDI regime, where we expect focus to remain ahead of the next Commission.

Membership update

We're delighted to welcome a further three new members to the GIIA community this month. View our full list of Investor and Associate Members here. 

If you know of any companies that would benefit from joining GIIA, get in touch.

If you or your organisation would like to feature in our next email update, or share a guest post on our website, let us know by emailing press@giia.net.