Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On May 5, 2022, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of nine banks — including the Bank of China (BOC), the Bank of Communications (BoComm), and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a €1.510 billion EUR ($1.60251 billion USD) syndicated loan agreement with BIP Miro (Lux) SCSp and BIP-V Miro (Lux) SCSp — Luxembourg-incorporated companies managed by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners (BIP), an infrastructure core plus fund managed by Blackstone Inc., a Delaware-incorporated American alternative investment management company based in New York City and listed on the New York Stock Exchange — to finance Blackstone Infrastructure Partners' participation in Holding Reti Autostradali S.p.A.'s (HRA) acquisition of a 88.08% stake in Italian toll road operator Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. (ASPI). The loan was divided into four tranches: a €800.00 million EUR ($849.01 million USD) term loan tranche with a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of May 5, 2027; a €600.00 million EUR term loan B1 tranche with a maturity period of six years and a final maturity date of May 5, 2028; a €80.00 million EUR ($84.90 million USD) with a maturity period of six years and a final maturity date of May 5, 2028; and a €30.00 million EUR ($31.84 million USD) revolver tranche with a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of May 5, 2027. Each lender contributed approximately €88,888,888.8889 EUR ($94.33 million USD) to the €800 million EUR term loan tranche. Record ID#109877 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#109897 captures BoComm's contribution. Record ID#109898 captures ICBC's contribution. Each lender contributed approximately €66,666,666.6667 EUR ($70.75 million USD) to the €600 million EUR term loan B1 tranche. Record ID#109899 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#109900 captures BoComm's contribution. Record ID#109901 captures ICBC's contribution. Each lender contributed approximately €8,888,888.88889 EUR ($9.43 million USD) to the €80 million EUR term loan B2 tranche. Record ID#109902 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#109903 captures BoComm's contribution. Record ID#109904 captures ICBC's contribution. Each lender contributed approximately €3,333,333.33333 EUR ($3.54 million USD) to the €30 million EUR revolver tranche. Record ID#109905 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#109906 captures BoComm's contribution. Record ID#109907 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to the Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Crédit Agricole S.A. (Crédit Agricole Group), Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A., MUFG Bank, Natixis, and Société Générale S.A. (SocGen). Holding Reti Autostradali S.p.A. (HRA) was an Italy-incorporated special purpose investment vehicle and joint venture jointly owned by Italian state-owned CDP Equity S.p.A. (51% equity stake), BIP Miro (Lux) SCSp (21.32% equity stake), BIP-V Miro (Lux) SCSp (3.18% equity stake), and Italian Motorway Holdings Sà.r.l., a Luxembourg-incorporated company wholly-owned by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 SCSP (24.5% equity stake). Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. (ASPI) is an Italy-incorporated company specializing in the development, management, operation, and maintenance of motorway sections concessions (toll roads). As of 2021, it was one of the largest toll road operators in Europe and managed over 3,000 kilometers of toll roads across Italy under long-term concession from the Government of Italy, about half of the country's tolled roads, with about 4 million travelers daily. ASPI was originally a state-owned enterprise before privatization in 1999. On June 12, 2021, Holding Reti Autostradali signed the share purchase agreement with Atlantia S.p.A., a holding company for the Benetton family group, to acquire its 88.06% equity interest in Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. (ASPI). The acquisition included a tag-along right to acquire 100% if the minority shareholders agreed. The acquisition had a value of €6.68879 billion EUR ($7.09858 billion USD). Holding Reti Autostradali sought to implement an investment plan across ASPI's entire motorway network, update the network to facilitate digitalization and innovation, improve the efficiency of infrastructure maintenance programs for safety and performance, and offer stable, long-term governance for Italian infrastructure. The acquisition was completed on May 5, 2022. In addition to HRA, other shareholders (that retained their stakes) were Appia Investment S.r.l. (an entity of the Allianz group), holding 6.94% and Chinese state-owned Silk Road Fund Co., Ltd, holding 5%.