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Infrastructure investor InfraRed Capital Partners recently announced its intention to sell its 42% stake in French motorway operator Atlandes.

Atlandes has a concession for the section of the A63 Highway between the towns of Salles and Saint-Geours-de-Maremne. Other shareholders in the asset include DIF Infrastructure, NGE Concessions and Egis Investment Partners France.

Rothschild has been hired to manage the sale, which could raise several hundred million euros.

In February this year, InfraRed-managed HICL acquired a 13.8% stake in the company. This stake is not part of the sale process. 

The A63 autoroute project consisted of the enlargement and upgrade of an existing 105 km road linking the towns of Salles (Gironde) and St-Geours de Maremne from a two to a three-lane highway. The project also comprised the construction of two cross-lane toll barriers and parking facilities for 1,200 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

The A63 project is part of the trans-European network and will sustain trade flows between the Iberian Peninsula and northern Europe. It was successfully completed in November 2013, a remarkable seven months ahead of schedule.

The project was eligible for EU funding while the construction and operation of a toll system provides income for the duration of the 40-year concession. 

As we reported in July 2015, the project was successfully refinanced in June 2015. Atlandes signed then a €860 million (US$945.9 million) financing agreement, for a period of 25 years, with Banca IMI, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIC, Crédit Agricole, ING Bank and Société Générale.