HICL Infrastructure to buy stake in French motorway project

HICL will pay up to €87m (£66m) to the vendors at completion, which is expected early next year.

The project is a 40-year toll-road concession to design, build, finance, operate and maintain an upgraded 104km section of the A63 highway between Salles and Saint-Geours-de-Maremne, in southwest France.

Balfour said this was its fourth investment in France, and its first in a demand-based project, where revenues are linked to usage volumes and toll pricing.

Tony Roper, director at HICL investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners, said: "Having reviewed a number of toll road opportunities in recent years, we are very pleased to have signed the agreement to acquire an interest in the A63 motorway project in France.

“It has performed well since financial close, with construction completion ahead of schedule and revenues in line with forecasts. With a 35-year concession life remaining, strong inflation-linkage and a successful refinancing in 2015 that secured long-term funding, the project is well-placed to deliver attractive returns."