ACS (through its subsidiary Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras) and Sacyr Concesiones have signed an agreement for the sale of its stakes in the company that manages and operates Seville's metro Line 1 to Globalvia for a total amount of €119 million.

ACS sold a 32.77 % stake for €60.5 million and Sacyr a 34.01 % stake for 58.3 million. After the sale, Globalvia will own a controlling stake of 66.78 % in the company.

The other shareholders of the concessionaire are the train manufacturer CAF (10.31 %), Gea-21 (11.15 %) and the Government of Andalusia through the Agencia de Obra Pública (11.77%).

The infrastructure counts its third year with a positive result as it has an operating subsidy of €48 million annually. The subsidy is subject to compliance with the demand estimates.

The infrastructure investment was €658 million, more than a third (€260 million) was financed by the EIB. Shareholders invested €131 million (20%), and the Government of Andalusia provided the remaining €267 million. The concession term is 30 years.

Line 1 of the Seville Metro was partially opened on 2 April 2009 and became fully operational by November 2009. The metro serves around 230,000 people and acts as a vital transport link between the metropolitan area of Seville and the city. The Seville metro concessionaire closed 2012 with 14 million passengers and a profit of €5.7 million.

We had announced in July that ACS and Sacyr were looking for buyers for the asset.

Globalvia is owned by two partners, each with a 50% share: Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) and Bankia. At the end of 2011 Globalvia successfully closed its fundraising, which enables the company to grow its current portfolio of PPP assets. The funding was provided by pension funds PPGM (Netherlands) and OPTrust (Canada), with a €400 million initial commitment that can be expanded to €750 million.