Five banks based in Kentucky have launched an investment fund to support public-private partnership (P3) projects throughout the state, located in the central-eastern USA.

The institutions launching the US$125 million Western Kentucky Infrastructure Fund (WKIF) are Field & Main Bank, Inc., The Paducah Bank & Trust Co., Security Bank & Trust Co., Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. and Traditional Bank Inc.

The Western Kentucky Infrastructure Fund is an innovative, private fund established to provide debt financing to private-sector firms participating in public infrastructure projects at both the state and local levels. The Fund is managed by Jake Schirmer, manager of Commonwealth Infrastructure Fund, a similar fund serving Central Kentucky.

The Fund will provide debt financing to both the public and private sector for public-private partnerships (P3). Additionally, it will fund infrastructure projects in Western Kentucky where many of these may be direct with the municipality or with a private developer. Furthermore, the fund will look for transactions that are part of social infrastructure such as hospitals, charter schools, substance abuse recovery centers and opportunity zone projects, to name a few.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed and Gov. Matt Bevin signed Kentucky’s P3 legislation in 2016, giving the state one of the broadest and most comprehensive P3 laws in the country. The new law established a process that allows local governments to partner with private firms to finance and build capital projects that might not otherwise be possible.

The Fund will provide debt financing critically needed at both the state and local levels for projects such as the repair and replacement of roads and bridges, water and sewer systems, and social infrastructure projects such as student housing, treatment centers and charter schools.