ACS Group has reached an agreement with Clal Insurance through ACS Infrastructure, the North American subsidiary of its main concessions division, IRIDIUM, to acquire an additional 12.11% stake in the SH-288 Toll Lanes highway concession in Houston, United States, for approximately €250 million. With this transaction, Group ACS further increase its take after the previous August 31st acquisition, holding 78.38% of the capital invested in the project. 

The closing of the transaction is still subject to obtaining the pertinent administrative approvals and the fulfillment of the conditions precedent of this type of agreement, as well as the final closing of the previous transaction for the sale of 44.65% to InfraRed Capital Partners, Northleaf Capital Partners and Star America. 

The concession is part of a 52-year public-private partnership (P3) contract awarded in 2015 by the Texas Department of Transportation to the consortium led by ACS Infrastructure, a consortium that also included ACS Group construction companies Dragados USA and Pulice Construction. 

The scope of the contract includes the financing, design, construction and operation of four new toll lanes in the median of the corridor and its accesses, the rehabilitation and improvement of the roadways and interchanges of the existing highway, and the access to the hospital complex known as the Texas Medical Center. This is one of the most important infrastructure projects undertaken in the Houston metropolitan area, which, after opening to traffic in 2020, will contribute significantly to alleviating congestion problems in one of its most populated areas. On average, the corridor is traveled daily by more than 160,000 vehicles, of which approximately 14,000 choose to use the new toll lanes. 

ACS Infrastructure leads the operation and maintenance tasks of the highway section, including the management of the new lanes through the application of a toll rate that will vary according to the level of congestion. Toll collection is carried out through a Free Flow electronic toll collection system, and for the operation of the lanes the latest technology in intelligent highway management is used. 

ACS Group in the United States market 

With this transaction, the ACS Group strengthens its position as a reference shareholder of the SH-288 toll road, from which it consolidates its leadership in the infrastructure market in the United States, and from which it advances in its expansion strategy in the North American concessions market. 

ACS Infrastructure currently has six public-private participation contracts in the United States, with a management value of over 6,000 million euros. 

Likewise, the ACS Group responds to its commitment to continue expanding its concessions business and its commitment to the North American market, in which the group has accumulated more than 15 transport infrastructure assets with a management value of more than 20,000 million euros.