Rubicon Advises Cintra and Meridiam on the Transform 66 P3 Project
Rubicon Advises Cintra and Meridiam on the Transform 66 P3 Project
Rubicon Infrastructure Advisors (“Rubicon”) is pleased to announce that financial close has been reached on the $3.6 billion Transform 66 P3 Project to design, build finance, operate and maintain express lanes on I-66 Outside the Beltway (the “Project”) under a 50-year Comprehensive Agreement between the Virginia Department of Transportation and I-66 Express Mobility Partners, LLC. (“I-66EMP”) The Project encompasses an approximately 22-mile long section of the I-66 corridor between U.S. Route 29 at Gainesville and I-495 (Capital Beltway) through Prince William and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia.
Rubicon acted as the exclusive financial advisor to I-66EMP which consists of Cintra Infraestructures SE and Cintra Global (together, “Cintra”) and Meridiam I-66 Express, LLC (“Meridiam”), an indirect subsidiary of Meridiam Infrastructure North America Fund II, LP. I-66EMP also consists of both APG Asset Management U.S. Inc. and John Laing Investment Ltd.
The financing of the Project includes $737 million of senior lien private activity bonds maturing in December 2056, a $1.2 billion TIFIA loan also maturing in December 2056 and equity contributions totalling $1.5 billion. The TIFIA loan is one of the largest TIFIA loans to have closed and the largest TIFIA loan for a P3 project. Both the private activity bonds and TIFIA loan were rated Baa3 (stable) and BBB (stable) by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings respectively.
This transaction represents Rubicon’s eighth debt engagement to have reached financial close in the last 16 months. Rubicon has managed to maintain a 100% success rate as financial advisor on the sale or financing/refinancing of assets to date.
About Rubicon Infrastructure Advisors
With representation in Dublin, New York, Madrid and Sydney, Rubicon is a specialist investment banking firm focused solely on the global infrastructure and energy market. The firm’s team comprises industry experts with extensive experience and who have advised or structured over €200 billion worth of infrastructure transactions across multiple sectors and jurisdictions (www.rubiconinfra.com)
About Meridiam
Meridiam manages almost $6 billion of infrastructure assets through 6 funds. The company has more than 50 projects around the world including 21 in North America. The company develops, builds, finances and manages projects in various sectors including transportation, healthcare, social and environmental. This Project is the fourth dynamic pricing express lanes project it will have closed with Cintra. (www.meridiam.com)
About Cintra
Cintra is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ferrovial S.A. It has over 17 years of experience in North America and currently operates more than 1,110 miles of roadway globally and 1,500 lane-miles in North America of which 1,100 lane-miles are revenue risk projects in the U.S. This Project represents Cintra’s fifth dynamic pricing toll project in total and the fourth express lanes project it will have closed with Meridiam. (www.cintra.us)