Statement re Successful closing of the Issue

HSBC Infrastructure Company Limited ("HICL") - £250 million Placing and Offer
for Subscription

The Board of HSBC Infrastructure Company Limited ("HICL"), a newly established,
Guernsey-incorporated, closed-ended investment company, is delighted to
announce the successful closing of its £250 million Placing and Offer for
Subscription (the "Issue"). The book-building process in connection with the
Issue closed at 4.30 p.m. on 22 March 2006.

The Issue saw strong demand from a range of high quality institutional and
private investors and was significantly oversubscribed. An aggregate of
250,000,000 Ordinary shares in the Company will be issued at a price of 100p
per Ordinary share. 31,745,050 Ordinary shares will be issued under the Offer
and 218,254,950 in the Placing.

The proceeds of the Issue will be used to acquire an initial portfolio of up to
15 infrastructure projects in the government accommodation, health, transport,
training and education sectors. It includes accommodation projects for the UK
Home Office, Health and Safety Executive and the Ministry of Defence, a number
of hospitals, schools, a police custodial project, a helicopter training
facility and a high speed rail project for the Dutch State. A definitive
agreement for the acquisition of the initial portfolio was entered into on 22
March 2006.

Admission to the Official List is expected to occur and unconditional dealings
to commence on the London Stock Exchange at 8 a.m. on 29 March 2006. UBS
Investment Bank and HSBC Bank plc acted as Joint Placing Agents to the Issue.
UBS Investment Bank was also Sponsor to the Issue.

Werner von Guionneau, head of HSBC Specialist Investments Limited, the HSBC
Group's dedicated infrastructure and property investment business, commented:

"We are delighted that the Placing and Offer for Subscription received such
great interest from a wide range of investors. The success of the launch
illustrates the attractiveness to the investment community of long-term,
partially inflation-protected cashflows available from infrastructure assets.
HICL will be seeking to expand its investment portfolio into other
infrastructure investments, with the objective of achieving further
diversification and enhancing shareholder returns."

Enquiries:

HSBC Corporate Communications 020 7991 8888

Kerry Nelson

HSBC Specialist Fund Management Limited 020 7991 8888

Werner von Guionneau

Gareth Craig

Jonathan Maxwell

Sandra Lowe

UBS Investment Bank 020 7567 8000

Will Rogers

Steven Wirth

HSBC Specialist Fund Management Limited

HSBC Specialist Fund Management Limited ('HSFML') is a wholly owned

subsidiary of HSBC Specialist Investments Limited, the dedicated infrastructure

and property investment arm of HSBC Group. HSFML was incorporated in England

and Wales on 2 May 1997 under the Companies Act 1985 (registered number

03364976) and is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the

Financial Services Authority.

HSBC Holdings plc

HSBC Holdings plc serves over 125 million customers worldwide through some
9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific
region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,502
billion at 31 December 2005, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and
financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's
local bank'.

Legal information

The contents of this announcement, which have been prepared by and are the sole
responsibility of the Company, have been approved solely for the purposes of
section 21(2)(b) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by HSBC
Specialist Fund Management Limited of 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ, which is
authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. HSBC Specialist
Fund Management Limited is acting for the Company in connection with this
announcement and for no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other
than the Company for providing the protections afforded to customers of HSBC
Specialist Fund Management Limited or for providing advice in relation to the
Issue, the contents of this announcement or any matters referred to herein.
Persons needing advice should contact a professional adviser. The price of
securities may go down as well as up.

The Issue and the distributions of this announcement and other information in
connection with the Issue in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and
persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to
herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction.
Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the
securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This announcement is an advertisement for the purposes of the Prospective
Directive (2003/71/EC) and does not constitute or form part of any offer or
invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or
subscribe for, any securities. Any purchase of or application for securities of
the Company pursuant to the Issue may only be made on the basis of the
information contained in the final prospectus to be issued in connection with
the Issue (the "Prospectus"). Copies of the Prospectus are available at the
registered office of (1) the Company at Dorey Court, Admiral Park, St Peter
Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, GY1 3BG, (2) HSBC Bank plc at 8 Canada Square,
London, E14 5HQ and (3) UBS Limited at 1 Finsbury Avenue, London, EC2M 2PP.

This document does not constitute or form part of an offer to sell, or the
solicitation of an offer to subscribe for, shares in the Company to any person
in the United States or in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or
solicitation is unlawful. The shares being offered under the Issue have not
been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933 (as
amended) or under the securities laws or with any securities regulatory
authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States or of any
province or territory of Australia, Canada or Japan.

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be,
"forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be
identified by the fact that they do not only relate to historical or current
events. Forward-looking statements often use words such as "anticipate",
"target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "expected", "plan", "goal" believe",
or other words of similar meaning.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty
because they relate to future events and circumstances, a number of which are
beyond the Company's control. As a result, the Company's actual future results
may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results and
developments to differ materially from those estimated by the forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, the factors to be described in the
risk factors and operating and financial review and prospectus section of the
Prospectus.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company speak only
as at that date of this document. Save as required by any applicable laws or
regulations, the Company undertakes no obligation publicly to release the
results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this announcement
that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this announcement.

No information in this announcement or any of the documents relating to the
Issue, including the Prospectus, can be relied upon as a guide to future
performance

N T Massey

Kleinwort Benson (Channel Islands) Fund Services Limited

Company Secretary

Tel: [phone]