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Weekly Lists
July 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 27
bne:
Infrastructure
BaltCap launches €100mn infrastructure fund
Private equity company BaltCap has launched a €100mn investment fund targeting infrastructure projects in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which will be backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the fund manager said on July 3.
The BaltCap Infrastructure Fund will focus on providing development capital for transport, energy, and energy efficiency infrastructure projects in the Baltic States, the investor said in a statement. The company hopes that the creation of the fund will reduce – at least to an extent – the huge infrastructure funding gap in the region.
Having committed €20mn, the EIB is the anchor investor in the fund. Other investors are the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, pension funds run by SEB, Swedbank, and LHV, Swedbank Life Insurance, and other institutional investors.
Slovenia's parliament voted on July 4 to hold a referendum on September 24 to ask citizens to approve a €1bn project to expand the Koper-Divaca railway.
The Koper-Divaca expansion is Slovenia's largest planned infrastructure project, but faces strong opposition from some lobby groups and political parties within the country. An opinion poll published by Slovenian daily Delo on July 3 indicated that 56% of those who planned to vote would reject the project.
The expansion of the 27km railway line is designed to speed up freight traffic between Divaca near the Italian border and the state- owned Adriatic seaport Luka Koper. As well as being Slovenia’s only seaport, Koper is also a major entrypoint for goods destined for Hungary.
Global electric utility Tata Power inaugurated a new hydropower plant in Georgia on July 3. The 187 megawatt (MW) Shuakhevi Hydropower plant is the largest to have been built in Georgia in the past five decades. It was constructed by Tata Power in a joint venture with Clean Energy Invest AS Norway and the International Finance Corporation's InfraVentures.
In recent years, Georgia has been seeking to reduce its reliance
on imports of gas, the majority of which are procured from its neighbour Azerbaijan, by developing its hydropower and wind power potential.
Slovenia to put Koper- Divaca rail project to referendum
Tata Power completes Georgia's largest hydropower plant