K&L Gates, SovereigNET, The Fletcher School’s Network for Sovereign Wealth and Global Capital, and the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds were pleased to host our Sixth Annual symposium on global infrastructure on October, 18 2018. This central theme of this gathering was, “Financing Public Infrastructure in North America: Myths, Risks, Realities.”
The Trump Administration’s plans to mobilize over $1T in public infrastructure investment in the US have raised expectations of major opportunities for developers, bankers, and investors. While seemingly presenting vast potential for stable, long-term returns, infrastructure investment in the US is complicated by a wide variety of factors—including decentralized fiscal management, competitive sources of market finance, and local political cycles—that can obscure traditional investment analysis. Building Bridges VI dissected the administration’s infrastructure initiatives by parsing myths and risks to unmask the potential scale and scope of new investment opportunities in US public infrastructure.
The Building Bridges platform brings together institutional investors, policy makers, development bankers, service providers, academics, and public-sector partners to examine the various dimensions of infrastructure as a long-term asset class. Our sessions are designed to encourage wide-ranging professional, cross-disciplinary discussion. Four key themes framed our 2018 program: project origination, engaging the private sector, identifying and mitigating political risk, and the intermediation benefits—and costs—of institutional funds.
Check out the agenda from an exciting day in DC!
Our core themes were explored through four panel discussion sessions complemented by two keynote speakers. Four interactive lunch breakouts added a comparative global feature to the symposium. All sessions featured noted practitioners with extensive experience in developing and financing public infrastructure in North America.
Joe Aiello, Partner,
Meridiam Infrastructure
DJ Gribbin, Senior Operating Partner,
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners
Check out the agenda, including speakers from:
- S&P
- Meridiam Infrastructure
- China Investment Corp.
- McDermott International
- Water Asset Management
- BcIMC
- WAFRA
- Verto Management
- UBS
Conference Co-Chairs
- Jeff Cohen, Partner, K&L Gates
- Eric Freedman, Partner, K&L Gates
- Tom F. Holt Jr., Partner, K&L Gates, & Co-Head, SovereigNet
- Eliot Kalter, President, EM Strategies, Inc., & Co-Head, SovereigNet
- Margaret Niles, Partner, K&L Gates
- Charles Purcell, Partner, K&L Gates
- Patrick Schena, Adjunct Professor of International Business Relations, The Fletcher School, & Co-Head, SovereigNet