On Tuesday, DIF Capital Partners, the Dutch-headquartered investor in global private infrastructure assets with EUR 7.6 billion (around $9 billion) in AUM, announced that it will buy stakes in two public-private-partnership (PPP) roads in Portugal from the toll roads subsidiary of Spanish multinational Ferrovial.
The price was disclosed at EUR 171 million (around $203 million).
Per the sale agreement, DIF Infrastructure VI will take a 48% stake in the Via do Infante highway in Algarve, and a 49% stake in the Norte Litoral motorway, in Porto. The seller is Cintra, one of the world’s largest developers of private highway infrastructure, which is owned by Ferrovial.
A statement from Cintra on Tuesday said that the sale was part of its asset rotation strategy for mature assets. Cintra acquired the two roads, which operate under 30-year concession terms, in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Around 95% of the revenue of both roads is generated via availability payments from the public sponsor.
Post-sale, Cintra will hold the management contract for both assets, and will maintain its existing stake in the Azores Highway, part of the 1,474 km of toll roads Cintra currently manages under 25 concessions in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia and Colombia.
Announcing the deal, DIF Capital Partner Fernando Morenos said: “We are very pleased with the addition of these critical and robust road assets to the DIF VI portfolio. Given their structure, the projects have continued to demonstrate strong performance despite the Covid-19 crisis.”