Meridiam

Meridiam was established in 2005 by Thierry Déau, formerly Chief Executive of Egis Projects, a subsidiary of France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations specialized in developing, financing and managing infrastructure projects.

Set up to finance public infrastructure and to create a secure investment framework for long-term savings, Meridiam received the financial and operational support from the Crédit Agricole Group and AECOM Technology.[2]

In 2006, while achieving the first closing of its fund Meridiam I, the company secured its first two projects: the Limerick Tunnel in Ireland,[3] which began operating in July 2010, and the A5 highway in Austria, which opened to traffic in January 2010.[4]

In 2007, Meridiam acquired the Fulcrum LIFT project covering local healthcare facilities in the United Kingdom,[5] as part of large-scale program sponsored by the British Health Ministry.

In 2008, the company proceeded to a new fund-raising round for Meridiam I, which brought the fund size to €548 million.[6] In the same year, Meridiam secured a stake in the A2 Motorway phase I project in Poland.[7]

In 2009, the company won four new projects in Europe: the A5 Motorway in Germany,[8] the A2 Motorway phase II in Poland,[9] the R1 Motorway in Slovakia[10] and the velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.[11] In the same year, Meridiam also secured two projects in the United States: the port of Miami Tunnel, inaugurated in May 2014[12] and the North Tarrant Express Highway in Texas, which began operating in October 2014.[13]

Also in 2009, Infrastructure Investor selected Meridiam as European Fund of the Year.[14]

While engaging a fund-raising process on both sides of the Atlantic (Meridiam Infrastructure Europe II[15] and Meridiam Infrastructure North America II[16]), Meridiam signed 6 new contracts between 2010 and 2011, including the new Montreal University Hospital Research Center (which opened in the fall of 2013),[17] the Long Beach Courthouse (which opened in the fall of 2013) in California,[18] the Nottingham Express Transit phase II (which began operating in May 2015),[19] as well as the South-Europe Atlantique High-Speed rail line in France (which began operating in July 2017).[20]

In 2011, Meridiam received the Fund of the Year award for its global achievements by Infrastructure Journal.[21]

In 2012, Meridiam set up a new supervisory board.[22] The ownership structure was modified and resulted in the majority of shares being held by partners and employees. As of 2013, AECOM maintained thirty percent ownership in Meridiam.[23]

In the same year, the closing of the funds Meridiam Infrastructure Europe II [24] and Meridiam Infrastructure North America II [16] increased the investment capacity of the company to $2.3 billion.

In order to finance the student housing facilities of the University of Hertfordshire (scheduled to open in September 2016),[25] the company launched in 2013 the first project bond without credit enhancement in Europe.[26] Simultaneously, Meridiam launched a partnership with the EDHEC Risk-Institute to support academic research. A new chair was established, dedicated to infrastructure equity investments, as well as to the recognition of infrastructure as a separate asset class.[27]

This position was recently adopted by the European regulator EIOPA following a consultation.[28]

In the first half of 2014, the company announced the fund-raising round of the first fund dedicated to the African continent, the Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund, targeting €300 million over a period of 15 years.[29] In September 2015, the European Investment Bank announced its participation in this fund with an investment of €30 million.[30]

In the same year, Meridiam opened an office in Istanbul and invested in four hospital projects in the country.[31]

In February 2015, the company signed a concession contract reuniting the ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer and comprising the project Calais Port 2015. It is the first French public infrastructure project carried by France as part of the Juncker Plan.[32]

Finally, in the context of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference organized in late 2015, Meridiam announced the launch of a new fund dedicated to infrastructure projects relating to energy transition.[33]

At the beginning of 2016, Meridiam opened an office in Dakar.

In Year 2020 Meridiam made an offer to buy Suez eau France.[34] In October 2020, Meridiam became the majority shareholder of Voltalis, the European leader in Demand Response for residential and commercial end users, an innovative solution at the heart of the energy transition that benefits both small electricity consumers and the power system[35]. In december, Meridiam and VINCI have been designated as preferred bidder for the D4 motorway PPP contract in the Czech Republic, a 28-year PPP representing an investment of around €600 million[36]. The new highway will improve connection between South Bohemia and Prague,and will also contribute to improving traffic conditions on the country’s major commercial routes, particularly towards neighbouring Germany and Austria.

In January 2021, Meridiam is selected as the preferred bidder for a new Public Private Partnership (P3) contract to modernize and maintain California State University, Fresno's energy utility system in California in the United States[37].