Ferrovial completes refinancing of Toowoomba bypass for 400 million Australian dollars

Ferrovial, through a consortium involving its subsidiary Cintra, has completed refinancing of the Toowoomba bypass in Queensland, Australia, for AUD 400 million, equivalent to €245 million. The transaction involved a loan from three Australian banks at the lowest funding cost to date for a deal of this type in Australia, reducing total financing costs. The maturity of the asset’s total debt was extended to 2025, and there was a special remuneration to shareholders.

The transaction was closed five months after all sections of the road were opened fully to traffic, which emphasizes the market’s confidence in Toowoomba, the largest ever road project in the state of Queensland.

The 41-kilometer Toowoomba bypass, which greatly improves traffic conditions in the region and cuts transit times in the area by up to 40 minutes, was Ferrovial’s first road concession in Australia. The project was awarded in 2015 to a consortium also involving Plenary, Acciona and Broadspectrum.

The Toowoomba bypass was fully inaugurated in September 2019. The road crosses the Great Dividing Range, which runs parallel to Australia’s east coast for 3,700 kilometers. It spans a height difference of 500 meters with gradients of at most 6.5%, avoiding the 10% gradients and the traffic lights on the pre-existing road, which passes through the city.

Ferrovial, which owns 40% of the asset through Cintra, is one of the world’s principal private sector developers of transportation infrastructure in terms of the number of projects and the volume of investment. It currently manages 1,500 kilometers of toll roads in 25 concessions in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia and Colombia. It is a shareholder in the 407 ETR concessionaire, in Ontario, Canada, with a stake of 43.23%.