Skip to main content

Major highway improvement project on track in Colombia

In Colombia plans are now in hand for a major highway improvement project. Concesión Pacífico Tres is joint concession operator of the tolled links for Colombia’s major commercial regions connecting with the Pacific port hub. US firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has provided advice to Colombian Concessionaire Concesión Pacífico Tres SAS and its sponsors, MHC Ingeniería y Construcción de Obras Civiles and Construcciones El Cóndor, and Costa Rica’s infrastructure company Constructora MECO. The advice was
February 29, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
In Colombia plans are now in hand for a major highway improvement project. Concesión Pacífico Tres is joint concession operator of the tolled links for Colombia’s major commercial regions connecting with the Pacific port hub. US firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy  has provided advice to Colombian Concessionaire Concesión Pacífico Tres SAS and its sponsors, MHC Ingeniería y Construcción de Obras Civiles and Construcciones El Cóndor, and Costa Rica’s infrastructure company Constructora MECO. The advice was in connection with the structuring of a dual-currency project bond and financing package consisting of two tranches of bonds used to fund an extensive toll road improvement plan in Colombia. The offering is the first debt financing of its kind tied to a toll-road concession infrastructure plan of the Colombian National Infrastructure Agency.

Pacífico Tres is the entity created in 2014 as part of a 25-year concession with Colombia’s Ministry of Transportation to rehabilitate and operate a series of highways linking three of the country’s most commercially important regions. These are Valle del Cauca, Antioquia and Eje Cafetero and will connect to the key port of Buenaventura on Colombia’s Pacific coast.  The concession operator is Conexion Pacifico 3, jointly owned by three of Colombia’s leading construction companies.

In the first part of the offering, Pacífico Tres issued a tranche of US$260.4 million of Series A notes due 2035, yielding 8.25%.  In the second portion, the company issued COP$397 billion of Series B UVR-indexed notes due 2035, yielding 7.000%.  Both transactions closed on February 22nd 2016.

Proceeds of the transaction will go toward financing key aspects of the project, including improvement of existing roads, construction of new short road stretches, as well the construction of two large tunnels and several bridges. The improvements are expected to be completed over the next five years.

The complete financing package includes three separate loan tranches along with a liquidity facility provided by Financiera de Desarrolo Nacional (FDN), a Colombian state-owned economic development bank.

Related Content

  • Costa Rica to replace Conavi with a National Infrastructure Institute
    March 14, 2016
    Amid concerns over the efficiency of Costa Rica’s highways agency Conavi, the authority has been given more time to provide details on expansion of Route 32, according to the La Republica newspaper. Conavi has been at loggerheads with the Treasury Inspector's Office which wants Conavi to move faster and authorise a contract for the expansion of road between Rio Frio and Limon granted to China Harbour Engineering Company. China Harbour has been requesting further details about the US$395 million projec
  • Banks, builders and Colombian government discuss motorway funding plans
    January 22, 2014
    Banks, builders, pension funds and Colombian government officers are discussing plans to finance around 40 new road concessions worth a combined US$23.86 billion (COP 47 trillion). According to market reports, the winners of these concessions will cover around 25% of their final cost. These funds will be paid in the first two years of each project and the winning firms will look to recoup their investment through road tolls. Banks will cover 30% of the cost via 12-18 year loans. The national development ban
  • Progress for new highway project in Colombia
    June 5, 2014
    In Colombia the firm Estructura Plural Mario Alberto Huertas-Constructora MECO has been awarded the Girardot-Puerto Salgar 4G highway concession. The US$674 million concession was awarded following a short delay due to legal complexities by Colombia's national infrastructure agency ANI, reports Business News Americas. The 214km Girardot-Puerto Salgar highway is in central Colombia and the concession package includes the construction of 190km of the route, of which 22km will be totally new. A 135km stretch w
  • We're here to help
    July 16, 2012
    Formed at the end of the Cold War, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has raised, and loaned, billions to revitalise infrastructure from central Europe to central Asia as Patrick Smith reports One of the highlights of the year for Thomas Maier has been the recent trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, where history was made. As the Business Group director in charge of the infrastructure sector at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) he was present when contract