Colombia's 4G Autopista al Río Magdalena highway 2 project has achieved financial close by securing financing of COP2.8 trillion (USD742 million) from three different tranches. The financing is made up of three tranches that are made up of a local loan in pesos, a loan in dollars and a bond issue under the regulation of the United States of America. The sum of these three tranches guarantees all the resources of this financial closing. 

The first financing tranche includes COP825 billion (US$218.79 million) tied to IPC. Bancolombia sponsored 76% of the amount with UVR for COP275 billion (US$72.93 million) with a tenor of 15 years. The second tranche consists of bonds issued by Goldman Sachs for COP915 billion (US$242.65 million). The third tranche involves a 15-year syndicated loan for US$200 million from Banco Santander.

Carlos García, Executive Vice President of the National Infrastructure Agency, said: “This good news allows us to continue strengthening the country's connectivity and to continue developing the works plan for the Magdalena River Highway 2: a road corridor that has four sections under construction and which we reactivated on May 14, 2020, since our goal has always been to start projects and generate this investor support that will allow the flow of resources".

This Fourth Generation (4G) highway, with 144 km concessioned by the ANI, seeks to connect Medellín directly with the Port of Cartagena and the north of the country, and the northeast of Antioquia with Santander.

It is expected that the Functional Unit (section) 4 of the project, which links the Puerto Berrío bypass with Cimitarra, connecting the departments of Antioquia and Santander, will come into operation in the second half of 2021 and in 2023 the construction phase of the entire corridor.