Texas (USA) Suspends Talks with ACS and Abertis, Nationalizes SH-288 Highway
State Texas (USA) continues nationalization of the toll road Ш-288, built, financed and managed ACS, through a consortium, sold 56.8% of this asset to its subsidiary Abertis by the end of last year.
The construction group informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that the Texas Transportation Commission (USA) reported this Friday, August 23, “suspend negotiations new agreement and continue the process of early termination of the concession agreement highway Ш-288 dated March 28, 2024.”
Therefore, under the current contract, the project will again become public property of the State of Texas in payment of 1.732 million dollars (about 1.548 million euros at the current exchange rate), of which 524 million dollars (468 million euros) are owned by Iridium Infraestructuras, a subsidiary of ACS Group.
ACS estimates that the contract termination, net of provisions and other results, including those of Abertis,will not have a material impact on consolidated net income 2024 AKS Group of Companies.
Termination for reasons of economic efficiency
In March, Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Raquel Lewis explained that she was reviewing the termination, given that the contract itself provides for a purchase reserve that will be “significantly below the value of future earnings in the corridor.”
Thus, this decision is made for economic reasons and without the manager having exercised ineffective management or having committed any violations or negligence.
In 2015, ASU received a contract for financing, design, and construction. and operating four new toll lanes on SH-288 after submitting the best bid through a consortium into which it integrated its subsidiaries through subsidiaries Iridium, Dragados USA and Pulice Construction. It was then noted that The service life of these toll lanes will be extended until 2068.
IN In April 2023, ACS acquired 21.6% of the consortium’s equity that it did not own. until then in exchange for 391 million. Three months later, it agreed to transfer 56% of the capital of Abertis in exchange for 1,423 million euros as part of a cooperation agreement signed with its partner Mundys (Atlantia), which resulted in a capital gain of 180 million after taxes and commissions were closed on December 28, 2023. A few weeks earlier, in November, this newspaper reported on ACS’s intention to sell the 43.6% it still owned in this concessionaire for around $1 billion.
The road, which stretches 17 kilometers from US-59 to the southern border of Harris County, which includes the city of Houston, was considered one of the crown jewels of ACS’s concession portfolio. In fact, the construction company’s CEO, Juan Santamaria, has said several times that expectations for growth on SH-288 are noticeable.
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