Rubicon Infrastructure Advisors and Banco Santander have announced the closing of a EUR229 million (US$263.2 million) refinancing for Autopista de Guadalmedina, C.E.S.A. The refinancing was for the company’s AP-46 Las Pedrizas Toll Road, a 28km toll road in Spain which forms part of the main highway connecting Malaga to Madrid.

This project was granted to the company, owned by Sacyr Concesiones, S.A. (40%), Unicaja Banco, S.A. (30%) and ABANCA Corporación Bancaria, S.A (30%) in December 2006 and has been operational since October 2011.

Rubicon and Santander served as co-financial advisors to the SPV.  After completing a competitive process, the debt was structured to include both a long-term non-recourse senior debt tranche provided by a syndicate of institutional investors that included MEAG Munich Ergo Asset Management GmbH (MEAG) and Ärtzeversorgung Westfalen-Lippe (AEVWL) and a junior debt tranche provided by Kommunalkredit Austria AG (Kommunalkredit). The pricing and terms of the refinancing were a significant improvement over the Company’s existing debt facility.

The lenders on the transaction were advised by Herbert Smith Freehills (legal), Arup (technical), Deloitte (demand) and Willis (insurance). Perez Llorca and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP acted as legal advisers to Autopista de Guadalmedina.