[Iridium, acting through its Canadian subsidiary ACS Infrastructure Canada Inc., together with Hochtief and Meridiam, has reach commercial and financial close for the contract to finance, design, construct, operate, maintain and rehabilitate the 27-kilometer Northeast Anthony Henday highway project located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Capital City Link General Partnership (the concessionaire indirectly owned by ACS Infrastructure Canada, Meridiam Infrastructure North America and Hochtief PPP Solutions) has signed a 34 year contract with the Alberta government to design, build, finance and operate the Northeast Anthony Drive road project in Edmonton Alberta. The public private partnership contract including construction and long-term operation, maintenance and rehabilitation is worth $1.81 billion in 2012 dollars.
The construction of the project will cost approximately CAN $1.53 billion and will entail a 53-month construction period followed by a 30-year operation and maintenance period. The design and construction of the Project has been subcontracted to a joint venture led by ACS GroupÂ’s Dragados Canada Inc. and Flatiron Constructors Canada Limited, which also includes Aecon and Lafarge.
The project is financed by an aggregate principal amount of $535 million 4.386% fixed rate 33.9 year- senior bonds fully underwritten by CIBC World Markets and National Bank together with $924 million of Provincial Funding and $72 million of Equity. The senior bonds have obtained a preliminary rating of A- by S&P and A(low) by DBRS.
The Northeast Anthony Henday project is the fourth concession to be awarded to the ACS Group in Canada and the seventh in North America since the ACS GroupÂ’s entry into the North American concession market just six years ago.
Madrid, May 8 2012. ACS Infrastructure Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of Iridium, the ACS Group subsidiary dedicated to the development of concessions, has reached commercial and financial close on the concession contract for the financing, design, construction, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation of the Northeast Anthony Henday highway project in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ACS has teamed with transportation infrastructure fund Meridiam and Hochtief.
The project, which is scheduled to open to traffic in October 2016, is the final piece of a larger project launched by the Alberta Department of Transportation in the 1970s to develop a circumferential highway around Edmonton. This northeastern segment of the circumferential highway, which is the most important investment in transportation infrastructure in AlbertaÂ’s history, will significantly improve traffic efficiency and security in the Edmonton area.
The new 29-kilometer stretch of highway will have between three and four lanes in each direction and will include eight interchanges, nine overpasses and 48 structures, including two 300-meter-long bridges over the Saskatchewan River.
The estimated investment of CAN $1.53 billion will help to stimulate the economies of Edmonton and Alberta by creating new jobs and bolstering commerce.
The winning consortium, led by ACS Group, also contains the design and construction joint venture led by ACS GroupÂ’s Dragados Canada Inc. and Flatiron Constructors Canada Limited, which also includes Aecon and Lafarge. The consortium was selected over two other consortia, one comprising Macquarie and construction company Kiewit and the other comprising SNC-Lavalin and John Laing with construction company Graham.
ACS success in the North American concession market
The execution PPP contract for the Northeast Anthony Henday project further consolidates ACS GroupÂ’s presence in Canada, after having been recently awarded the concession of the Windsor-Essex Parkway in Ontario, with an investment of CAN $1.4 billion and the South Fraser Highway in British Columbia, with an investment of CAN $800 million. The ACS Group was also awarded the A-30 Highway project in Quebec, which is already in the final stages of construction and involves an investment of CAN $2.0 billion.
In the approximately six years that the ACS Group has been active in the North American concession market it has been awarded seven projects: the A-30 Highway in Quebec, the I-69 in Texas, the I-595 in Florida, the Mid-Currituck bridge in North Carolina, the South Fraser highway in British Columbia, the Windsor Essex Parkway in Ontario and the Northeast Anthony Henday project.
ACS Group continues its growth in North America, which it considers a strategic market. It has had a presence in North America through its primary construction subsidiary Dragados since 2005, when it was awarded the expansion of the New York subway, a complex engineering project, valued at over USD 400 million, to connect Grand Central Station in Manhattan and the borough of Queens. Dragados has since engaged in numerous road and dam projects in the northeastern United States and a dam project in Puerto Rico. It was also awarded a project for the expansion of Miami International Airport. In January 2006 it acquired 100% of Schiavione, a company specializing in civil works in the northeastern United States, and in January 2009 it acquired 100% of John P. Picone, a construction company in the state of New York and 100% of Pulice, the biggest contractor in Arizona.
Iridium, ACS GroupÂ’s concession subsidiary, has been the worldÂ’s largest private transportation infrastructure developer for over 10 years, handling development investment volumes in excess of EUR 22 billion. Iridium manages 60 companies dedicated to concessions throughout the world, spanning the entire value chain of the concession business.
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