Perella sees infrastructure growth

By Mathieu Robbins

LONDON (Reuters) - Boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners sees continued growth in opportunities to invest in infrastructure, Paulo Pereira, a partner at the firm, told the Reuters Investment banking Summit in London on Tuesday.

Perella Weinberg will manage a portfolio of private and pubic investments in water and resource infrastructure management, said Pereira.

The bank, which has an advisory and an asset management arm, is hoping to capitalize on increasing demand for stable infrastructure assets in Europe.

"We are seeing people looking to invest in stable infrastructure-like assets," said Pereira.

Perella Weinberg is designing its investment management business to avoid conflicting with any of the boutique's advisory clients, added Pereira.

The fund, which will be run by New York-based partner Rod Parsley, is unlikely to take controlling stakes in any companies.

Several of the larger investment banks such as Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have started infrastructure funds to look at such assets, and Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd MBL.AX also invests in infrastructure.

Pereira, who joined Perella from Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) earlier this year, added that even in traditionally more volatile sectors such as telecoms, companies may try to restructure businesses to hive off the more stable parts to attract investors.

One example of this is Australian investment group Babcock & Brown's BCMCA.AX attempt to split Irish telephone company Eircom into two parts, of which one is meant to represent a much more stable investment than the other, said Pereira.

Water companies, like other infrastructure assets including toll roads and power transmission wires, are coveted for their stable cash flows, which facilitate the payment of interest on longer term bonds or other debt.

The DJ Stoxx Utility index, which includes many infrastructure companies, has risen more than 30 percent in a year.