Finance & Funding

The Russian city of St. Petersburg is interested in the LSR group's offer to construct a bypass road around the centre of town in exchange for development of paid parking lots. Construction cost of the bypass is likely to be nearly US$638 million, according to Russian media reports. The parking lot investment would be around $168 million. The pay-back period for LSR, a major Russian property development company, is expected to be 25 years. Apart from banks such as VTB, potential private sector partner

Highways England has today appointed six joint-venture companies to design and build 10 “smart motorways” as part of a €2.1 billion investment. Construction contractors appointed are the Balfour Beatty and VINCI joint venture, a Costain and Galliford Try joint venture, as well as a Carillion and Kier joint venture. Designers are a CHM2 and Hyder joint venture, an Amey and Arup joint venture, as well as a Jacobs and Atkins joint venture. The award is the second major procurement to be given under th

A Canadian subsidiary of Vinci Concessions, has signed a 30-year public-private partnership (P3) deal for a bypass around the Saskatchewan provincial capital city Regina. Regina Bypass Partners is a (37.5%) subsidiary of Vinci Concessions, in partnership with Parsons Enterprises (25%), Connor Clark & Lunn GVest fund (25%) and Gracorp Capital (12.5%). Parsons Enterprises - the Parsons division focused on the development, delivery, financing, and management of infrastructure under P3s - is an equity par

Leighton Holdings and DM Consunji have been chosen by Metro Pacific Investment to develop the Cavite-Laguna Expressway – Calax -- project in the Philippines. Work on the US$757 million is set to start in July next year and run to July 2020. Maintenance and operations on the 47km highway is under a 30-year contract running from 2020. The motorway will start at Cavitex and end at the SLEX-Mamplasan Interchange.

Despite concerns from infrastructure groups, the Mexican government will not to extend the deadline for bids for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the La Raza-Indios Verdes-Santa Clara motorway. Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transport said the deadline remains as August 24 for the contract which will be a 30-year public-private partnership estimated to worth around $364 million.

US-based contractor Flatiron has won a US$157 million design and build contract for an interchange in the Canadian city of Winnipeg, in the province of Manitoba. The project, for owner Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation, will replace the existing loop-ramp interchange for Provincial Trunk Highways 59 and 101. Work includes seven precast girder bridges between 40m and 100 meters in length, one cast-in-place box culvert through-pass, construction of 1.5 million cubic meters of interchange embank

In Bahrain, upgrade work on the Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Highway will start in August. Under the US$124 million contract, a two-level interchange is proposed for the Nuwaidrat roundabout, while the Alba roundabout will be transformed into the country’s first three-level interchange. The project is scheduled for completion by August 2018. Work is being carried out by Kuwait Constructions, Abdulla Ahmed Nass & Works and the Bahraini Minister of Municipalities & Urban Planning Affairs. Kuwait is

French engineering group Egis has acquired 51% of Projacs, a major project and construction management firm in the Middle East. Egis, based in Guyancourt, north of Paris, made the purchase for an undisclosed sum. The move follows the purchase in Brazil of highways contractor Lenc at the end of last year. Projacs, founded in 1984, is based in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, but also operates in neighbouring countries. It

Manitou, a maker of telehandlers, aerial platforms and forklifts, has reported sales for the half year 2015 up 6% to €681 million. The company, based in Ancenis, France, also reported net income of €17 million versus €14 million for the same period last year. Order intake on equipment in second quarter of this year was €252 million versus €248 million in Q2 2014. "The growth regions remained in North America and northern Europe, however with less sustained momentum than last year,” said Michel Deni