Abertis has decided to exercise its preferential acquisition rights for the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations’ (CDC) stake in Holding d’Infrastructures de Transports (HIT) which controls 100% of Sanef.

The acquisition will allow Abertis to increase its stake in HIT from the current 52.55% stake to 63.07%, after taking into account the shareholders’ agreement. Based on the above, the cash outflow for Abertis will amount to €491 million (US$527 million). Closing of the acquisition, which values HIT’s equity at €4,666 million (US$5,009 million), is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2017.

In financial terms, and given that HIT is already fully consolidated in Abertis’ accounts, the main P&L impact will be generated at the Net Profit level with an accretion of around €30 million (US$32.2 million) in 2017. Net Debt at Abertis will increase by €491 million (US$527 million), the equivalent of the cash outflow.

Through this transaction, Abertis reinforces its growth strategy in robust economies, with stable concessions frameworks and a clear commitment to the public-private partnerships in the toll road sector. In this sense, France offers big opportunities of value creation through future partnerships with the government as shown in previous capex for years and capex for tariffs agreements (Paquet Vert, Plan Relance).

The acquisition also demonstrates the company’s ability to deliver growth within its existing asset base with financial discipline, while at the same time lowering its operational risk profile, and rebalancing its global portfolio by increasing the weight of developed markets where it already operates with a long successful track record.

Finally, this operation increases the company’s average portfolio duration and provides it with access to a greater dividend stream from France that will contribute to offset concession expiries over the coming years.