Disintermediation can take different forms, with banks supplanted as front-line lenders not only by the public markets but also by individual institutional investors. This is becoming a welcome feature of project finance as players, including investment manager Allianz Global Investors (AGI), lend directly to greenfield infrastructure projects.
AGI's latest infrastructure play is a £193m (€293m) investment in Scotland's largest public-private partnership (PPP), a road bypass round the Scottish city of Aberdeen, otherwise known as the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road, Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR) project.