Intermoney | ACS (Buy, PO 46 €) and Acciona (Buy, PO 200 €) have been awarded, together with the Meridian fund, the SR400 toll road, which will be located in the vicinity of Atlanta (United States), according to the newspaper El Confidencial.
With an investment of approximately €9.8 billion, the project has a construction period of approximately 5.5 years with an operation and maintenance period of a further 50 years. The construction of the infrastructure will be executed by Acciona (50%) and Dragados (50%), and will add two express lanes to the existing 25-kilometre stretch between North Springs Station and north of McFarland Parkway. The concession uses a system whereby the amount to be paid by the driver varies according to the volume of traffic on the motorway, enabling vehicles to access additional paid lanes, reducing traffic jams and polluting emissions.
This is very good news for both companies, as the volume of work that, in principle, this will entail is very considerable. For example, the ACS group’s total portfolio amounts to €87,000 million, so this award would potentially represent around 6-7% of the total. In the case of Acciona, the percentage would be even higher, around 15-20%, assuming that most of the investment is carried out in the construction of the infrastructure. Both companies have had a good first half this year, especially Acciona, which increased its construction EBITDA by +60% to €236 Mn, implying a margin of 7.6% (5.0% in H1 23), which the company explains by the operational advantages of large projects and those intensive in machinery. As of June, ACS’s consolidated EBITDA rose +11% to €1.157bn.
