The global infrastructure finance market is coping with a range of new realities following the Covid-19 pandemic. PFI has published its 2020 Global Infrastructure Supplement as the market starts to understand the long term consequences. The report looks at the new data and telecoms boom, case studies a range of infra deals financed this year, looks at new sectors and opportunities and reviews the impact of Covid-19 on the global infra finance sector. To see the digital version of this report,

Recent months have made 2020 look as though it had been cancelled outright. Like many people across Europe, I’ve only left my home in the Oxford countryside to make trips to the local post office, carefully sporting the latest fashion of surgical gloves and an anti-viral mask. Dreams of holidays to get some desperately needed vitamin D in southern France are distant memories; as are visits to family or friends. Others throughout the UK may have held back a grimace as breaking news pinged through to their phones last week – Schools won’t reopen until September. By Jordan Bintcliffe.

There have been a whole range of fibre to the home (FTTH) deals in the months leading up to lockdown and it is not going to stop any time soon. By Laurent Chabot, co-head of Infrastructure Finance, Paris, and Jonathan Tweed, head of TMT Finance, London, Societe Generale.

On April 9 2020, a private contractor was able to raise US$281m of proceeds in the US municipal bond market to finance the construction of the Lincoln South Beltway, a new 11-mile east-west highway south of Lincoln, Nebraska. By Barney Allison, partner and Brandon Nguyen, associate, Nossaman LLP.

The massive project has the potential to transform Toronto transit but faces formidable obstacles. By Alison Healey.

The bundled Hokkaido 7 Airport Concession Project reached financial close on December 19 2019, becoming the largest ever project finance transaction in Japan. By Taro Kanayama, senior vice-president, Project Finance Department, Mizuho Bank, Japan.

In April, financial close on the 30-year public-private partnership (PPP) of the A3 motorway in Germany was reached by A3 Nordbayern GmbH & Co KG, a project company whose shareholders are Eiffage SA and Johann Bunte Bauunternehmung GmbH & Co KG. By Robert Hofbauer, counsel, Finance & Projects, Torsten Pokropp, partner, Head of German Finance & Projects Practice, Frank Roth, partner, Public Procurement, and Lars Warrink, and Goran Nilsson, directors, Structured Finance Office for EMEA, MUFG Bank Ltd.

Mega infrastructure PPP projects in Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand are running into problems, with sponsors and contractors at each other’s throats and in the courts to resolve issues arising from unexpected difficulties during construction. By John Arbouw.

The use of public-private partnerships by public universities in the United States is not an entirely new or recent concept. P3s have become an established method for procuring student accommodation projects, with at least eight such projects reaching close last year alone. By Dolly Mirchandani, partner, and Claire Watson, counsel, White & Case LLP.

With a maligned leader and as one of the world’s worst pandemic hot-spots, Brazil is looking to infrastructure to brighten the gloom. By Nic Stone.

In this article we give an overview of Kazakhstan’s public-private partnership (PPP) law and its application to the healthcare sector in Kazakhstan. By Ayesha K Waheed, partner, Asem Bakenova, international partner, Nur-Sultan, and Daniyar Zhumakhanov, associate, Almaty, Morgan Lewis.

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have had a considerable impact on Turkish health public-private partnership projects and it is worth examining the challenges that have been created as a result. By Devrim Ergun, partner, and Nigar Özbek, senior associate, Çakmak Avukatlik Ortakligi.

The ratification of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement is a milestone that has been celebrated across the continent. By Banji Fehintola CFA, senior director and head of treasury and financial institutions at Africa Finance Corporation.

The concept of asset recycling has emerged as a noteworthy option to unlock private and institutional investment towards infrastructure assets. By Sharad Somani, partner and the ASPAC head of infrastructure, and Jun Yan, manager, with KPMG Singapore’s Infrastructure Advisory practice.

After a slow start, airport public-private partnerships (P3s) were finally starting to find some traction in the US in recent years, with several significant projects reaching financial close. By Roderick Devlin, partner and Angelica Valencia, partner, Nixon Peabody LLP.

It is very difficult to understand how the future will evolve in many sectors, given the current market conditions, but particularly for economic infrastructure assets such as airports. By project financier Ian Dixon.

Infrastructure stakeholders around the globe are assessing what challenges and opportunities the coronavirus presents for the sector. By Richard Abadie, PwC, Global Capital Projects & Infrastructure Leader, and Yvonne Welsh, PwC, senior manager, Capital Projects & Infrastructure.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic creates risks that are far beyond what has been experienced in the infrastructure and project finance sectors in many decades. The wide range of transactions, from enterprise to project structures, single-asset to multi-asset, demand-based to contracted, and single jurisdiction to multi-jurisdiction provide for a wide variety of potential effects. By Sajal Kishore, senior director and head of Asia-Pacific Infrastructure and Project Finance, Fitch Ratings.