Steer provides traffic and technical due diligence services to the successful bidder of Brisa acquisition

On 28 April 2020, our client APG Asset Management-led consortium entered into an agreement to acquire an 81.1% majority interest in Brisa for an equity value of over EUR 3bn. The consortium includes the National Pension Service of the Republic of Korea (NPS) and Swiss Life Asset Managers.

Brisa is a leading European toll road operator, with a network of 21 motorways in Portugal held through several concessions with a total length of over 1,500km. The company provides a wide range of services via its other subsidiaries, including Brisa Areas de Servicio, Via Verde Portugal, Brisa O&M and Brisa Gestão de Infraestructuras and A-to-Be Mobility Technology.

The transaction is one of the largest in southern Europe in recent years, attracting a large number of investors submitting their final bids. Closing of the transaction is subject to approval by the relevant regulators, which should occur during the third quarter of this year.

Steer provided traffic and technical due diligence services to the consortium in proactive collaboration with the financial advisor (Deutsche Bank). The delivery of combined traffic and technical due diligence services provided unique synergies to our client and their process, with a deep understanding on how the varying levels of traffic and heavy traffic may impact on the operation, routine and heavy maintenance of the road concessions.

During the process, the client highly commended Steer for its high-level performance and team efforts:

We wanted to thank you for the great work performed. We are extremely impressed by the level of analysis that has been produced.

Charles Russell (Director, infrastructure advisory team at Steer) says: “As the leading independent traffic and technical advisor in PPP transport infrastructure projects across the world, we provide thorough advice, underpinned by technical excellence, to lenders and investors to enable informed decision-making for successful infrastructure investments. Our international experience and presence enabled us to build upon Steer’s strength in being uniquely placed to combined traffic and technical due diligence, and experience in vendor- and buyer-side due diligence commissions in the Iberic Region (e.g. acquisition of 74% of Iridium shadow toll roads portfolio by Hermes, the sale of Autopistas del Sol 85% stake, Autovia del Camino acquisition by UBS Asset Management, the sale of Vallvidrera and Cadi Tunnels TABASA), the wider Europe and around the world. It was a pleasure to provide our services to the consortium, its lenders and the other strategic advisors, and contribute to the consortium being selected as preferred bidder for this transaction”.

We provide due diligence services in the primary and secondary markets across Europe, India, Latin America and North America through our coordinated international team of advisors. We are uniquely placed to combine our traffic, revenue and technical due diligence services with our financial advisory services for a successful project finance-related transaction, whether in the primary or secondary (i.e. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) and refinancing) markets.