As uncertainty drags on concerning federal funding levels for major infrastructure projects, stakeholders are looking more intensely than ever into what kinds of private capital are available—not only from entities traditionally interested in infrastructure, but also from companies such as Facebook.
From a finance point of view, “infrastructure is becoming distinct from other types of investments,” said Allan Marks, a partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, a firm that handles major business transactions. But in the U.S., regarding public-private partnerships so far, the sense is that “we like to make mistakes and not learn from them,” he told attendees of Infraday West, a one-day symposium held Dec. 5 in Los Angeles.