HICL buys out rest of Ireland road project

HICL Infrastructure has agreed to acquire the remaining 50% interest in the M17/M18 Gort to Tuam Road public-private partnership in the Republic of Ireland, it announced on Tuesday, from the Marguerite I Fund, for €41m (£36.97m).

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The FTSE 250 company said the transaction was expected to complete by the end of September.

It said the project is a 28-year road concession to design, finance, construct and maintain a new 57 kilometre dual carriageway section of the M17/M18 between Gort and Tuam in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland, with the client being the state agency Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Construction works were completed in December 2017, with the project being operational, receiving availability revenue payments not dependent on usage of the road.

HICL acquired an initial 10% interest in the project at financial close in 2014, and an additional 40% interest in 2019.

With completion of the incremental investment, HICL would hold a 100% interest.

“We are delighted that HICL is taking full ownership of the M17/M18 road public-private partnership, a project that has improved connectivity between airports in the west of Ireland,” said Harry Seekings, co-head of infrastructure at HICL’s manager InfraRed Capital Partners.

“The acquisition exemplifies HICL's strategy of increasing its stakes in known, high quality core infrastructure assets that deliver essential services and long-term returns.

“The investment is expected to be accretive to portfolio yield and will provide further geographical diversification to HICL's exposure to availability-based transportation projects.”

At 0811 BST, shares in HICL Infrastructure were up 0.024% at 165.64p.