A Choice between Staging and Syndication as Tools to Control Risks When Private Equity Invests in Infrastructure

Abstract

To mitigate the risks faced by private investors, including private equity (PE), strategies such as staging and syndication have been successfully employed. In this article, the determinants and preference of these two alliance-based strategies are explored when PE invests in infrastructure. Known for large capital outlays, project-finance structures, and nonrecourse financing, infrastructure is not a conventional choice for PE but has received enormous PE investment in recent years. Worldwide deals from 1990–2009 in energy, transport, and water and utilities sectors are analyzed in a nonrecursive path model to examine how environment, information, and investment risk determines the probability and preference of these strategies. Results indicate that the experience level of PE, especially in infrastructure, prior infrastructure experience, and proximity to the project determine the choice between staging and syndication, with staging emerging as the preferred alternative.