TINC, the infrastructure investor listed on Euronext Brussels, has announced it has invested in the PPP project for the realisation of the new A11 highway located between Knokke and Zeebrugge in Belgium.

The A11 highway will, with its total length of 12 kilometres, ensure a smoother connection of the Port of Bruges to the hinterland. By separating the port traffic from the local traffic, road safety will improve and the port is able to further expand. The tourist traffic no longer needs to use the regional roads and now moves fluently towards the seaside. The local traffic can move more smoothly and safely. New local connections for car and bicycle traffic make enjoyable driving between several polder villages.

The highway is realized by a construction consortium consisting of the building companies Jan De Nul, Aannemingen Van Laere, Aclagro, Aswebo, and Franki Construct, and will be taken into use after the summer.

The public-private partnership, with the Flemish Region (the Agency for Roads and Traffic) as client, includes the design, building, financing and 30-year maintenance of the highway, in consideration of an annual performance-related availability fee.

TINC acquires a participation of approximately 23% in the A11 highway. The acquisition price of €27.6 million (US$31.4 million) was determined on the basis of a return requirement that is in line with the return expected by TINC for similar participations in its investment portfolio.

With this acquisition, TINC already acquires one of the three participations that it had previously contracted:
this includes, on top of the participation in the A11 highway, also an interest in the A15 highway and the Beatrix Lock in the Netherlands, which are both realized through a public-private partnership model.

Following this investment, the investment portfolio of TINC includes 15 participations located in Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland.

Manu Vandenbulcke, CEO, said:

“With this investment, TINC continues to grow and adds an attractive participation to its portfolio which already includes various public-private partnerships. This participation immediately contributes to the result of TINC and puts the funds at work that TINC raised during the capital increase of December 2016.”