Cintra begins operating Indiana Toll Road (USA) under a 75-year concession

The project strengthens Cintra’s presence in the USA: Chicago Skyway and strategic partnership for the development of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC-35).

Cintra has taken over management of the Indiana Toll Road after paying 3.8 billion dollars (approximately 3,029 million euro) to the Indiana Finance Authority for the transfer of the asset. Accordingly, Cintra, in a 50:50 consortium with Australian group Macquarie, has taken charge of operating and maintaining the road for the next 75 years.

The process culminates 3 months after the signature of the contract, upon completion of bank financing. The partners, in proportion to their stakes (50:50), contributed 760 million dollars (appx. 606 million euro) in equity to the concession company. The remainder, 81% of the total investment, was obtained under a non-recourse senior credit line for an amount of 3,248 million dollars (appx. 2,589 million euro).

The banks providing the non-recourse financing are BBVA, Banco Santander, BNP, Caja Madrid, Depfa, Dexia and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland). The senior debt facility is broken down into three tranches: Tranche A, 3,248 million dollars, for the acquisition and other purposes; Tranche B, 150 million dollars, as a liquidity line; and Tranche C, 665 million dollars, to finance road improvements envisaged in the concession contract. All three tranches mature in nine years. The interest on the bank finance is fully hedged.

The project reinforces Cintra’s presence in the US, a strategic market for the company: it has a 99-year concession to operate the Chicago Skyway (1.83 billion dollars), which links with the Indiana Toll Road, and it is a strategic partner of the State of Texas for 50 years to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor, one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the US.

Main route linking logistics hubs in the US
Operational since 1956, the Indiana Toll Road (ITR) is a 157-mile (253 km) toll road comprising two sections:

• the West section, along the line between Indiana and Illinois: 23 miles (37 km) under a barrier system (flat tolls depending on type of journey);
• the East section, along the line between Indiana and Ohio: 134 miles (216 km) under a ticket system (payment on the basis of distance travelled).

ITR links Chicago with the largest cities on the eastern seaboard and it is the main route between the principal logistics hubs in the US: Chicago and New York-New Jersey, as well as Los Angeles since it forms part of the corridor that links the mid-western states and the Pacific coast. The connection to the Chicago Skyway (also managed by Cintra and MIG) is used every day by many users as the entrance route to Chicago and reduces time and distance with respect to other alternative routes, which are mainly congested and have highly variable traffic.

Cintra, one of the world’s largest private-sector transport infrastructure developers
Cintra, a subsidiary of Ferrovial, is one of the world’s leading private-sector developers of transport infrastructure, with committed investment of over 2 billion euro in concession companies’ equity. Cintra operates over 2,000 kilometres of toll road that represent a managed investment of over 15 billion euro.