When it comes to sponsors on the international infrastructure scene, few hold a candle to Macquarie Capital as it drives major transactions around the globe – according to IJGlobal’s independent panel of judges.

Scoring and commentary from the four teams of judges – in London, New York, Singapore and Dubai – were combined to give a global winner in this category for activity in the 2018 calendar year.

The judges identified a “strong diversified range of deals” as well as saluting Macquarie Capital for being “very prominent market-wide” and “winning deals in competitive environments”.

Among the highlights from a successful year, Macquarie Capital led the consortium to financial close in March on the Grangegorman campus in Dublin. This 27-year, availability-based PPP was procured by Ireland's National Development Finance Agency, and is the largest education project ever to be procured in the country.

Macquarie Capital was active in the renewable energy space and in central Sweden closed financing on a 56-turbine, 235MW onshore wind farm in the Ånge Municipality of Västernorrland.

This project is of significant scale as one of Europe's largest single-site onshore wind farms and increases Sweden's installed wind generation by around 3.5%. It is market-leading example of the transition of onshore renewables into an unsubsidised market place and involved what is believed to be one of the longest corporate wind energy PPAs globally – a 29-year, fixed-volume agreement with a Norsk Hydro subsidiary.

Staying with wind, but moving offshore, Macquarie Capital’s role on Taiwan’s pioneering 128MW Formosa 1 figured in winning it this award. It held 50% of the equity, working alongside Ørsted and Swancor Renewable, and set the scene with this pathfinder for the nation’s renewables agenda.

In Australia, Macquarie Capital came in to take a 50% equity stake in the Murra Warra wind farm at financial close in March 2018. This deal was the first equity investment made by Macquarie in a construction-stage renewables project in Australia since 2011.

Alongside fellow sponsor RES, it raised A$320 million in debt for the 226MW wind farm which is underpinned by long-term corporate PPAs signed in December 2017. The four offtakers are Telstra, ANZ, Coca-Cola Amatil, and the University of Melbourne.

RES and Macquarie plan to add a further 55 turbines in the second phase, bringing total capacity to 429MW.

Macquarie Capital also played a pivotal role in Western Australia to deliver the 36MW Kwinana energy-from-waste plant – the first large-scale thermal EfW project to be financed in the country.

The Australian sponsor – Phoenix Energy – drew on Macquarie’s experience in Europe to obtain a A$400 million, five-year debt package with competitive pricing, banked against a predominantly merchant offtake structure.

Macquarie Capital also brought to financial close the long-running Haren Prison PPP north east of Brussels. It is currently under construction and, once complete, will be Belgium's largest social infrastructure project to date.

It worked alongside FCC Concessions and Denys Global to reach financial close in July, raising around €400 million in equity and debt financing, securing a debt package of €340 million.