Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group announced today the formation of Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure Ltd., a business that will invest in North American middle market infrastructure assets and companies.

CC&L Infrastructure will focus on traditional projects, such as roads and bridges, as well as energy projects, such as power generation facilities, ranging in size from $25 million to $750 million.

CC&L Infrastructure is the newest addition to CC&L Financial Group’s “multi-boutique” structure through which it manages over $37 billion in assets on behalf of institutional, private and retail clients.

“We expect to become a leading source of risk capital to the Canadian infrastructure industry,” says Matt O’Brien, president, CC&L Infrastructure.

“Most independent power developers are long on industry expertise and entrepreneurial spirit, but are often short on capital”, he says. “We will partner with them to provide the equity capital that enables sound projects to get developed and built.”

CC&L Infrastructure recently closed its first investment in an approximately $500 million construction-stage, run-of-river hydro project in British Columbia. Harrison Hydro is a 150 megawatt project that will be among the largest of its kind in Canada.

CC&L Infrastructure and the project developers are together providing all of the equity capital required for construction of the project, which is expected to begin operations by the end of 2010.

The creation of CC&L Infrastructure comes at a time when the demand for power, and in particular the demand for renewable sources of power, is at an all-time high in Canada and the supply of new power is not keeping pace.

“Provincial governments are increasingly turning to the private sector to help bridge the emerging gap between the supply and demand for power,” says O’Brien. “Our focus on providing capital to independent power developers will continue to grow a network of small entrepreneurial firms who are actively developing renewable power sources and, in turn, address the emerging power gap.”

To provide counsel and guidance for the business, CC&L Infrastructure has established an advisory committee whose members are Patrick Madigan and Roger Dall’Antonia.

Madigan, who is currently the president of Terrma Capital has over 20 years of infrastructure industry experience, including senior management positions in the infrastructure groups of Macquarie North America and RBC Capital Markets. Dall’Antonia, who is currently vp of treasury and investor relations at Versacold, has over a decade of experience in senior finance roles within the energy industry.