•The 223 km-long motorway is part of Ruta 5, Chile's trunk road, connects the capital Santiago with the coastal city of Los Vilos, two strategic regions that account for more than half of the country's GDP, and links the Central Motorway with the Los Andes Motorway, both of which VíasChile already operates.
•Abertis’ CEO José Aljaro stressed that "this key operation is going to let us to further consolidate our position in Chile, one of the most important countries where we are going to manage more than 600 km of toll roads, providing the Group with stability and demonstrating our capacity to continue growing, while maintaining a balanced portfolio".
August 2024.- Abertis, the world's leading infrastructure management group, is set to manage Ruta 5 Santiago-Los Vilos in Chile through its subsidiary in the country, VíasChile1. VíasChile submitted the most competitive bid in the tender process arranged by the Chilean Ministry of Public Works (MOP).
The concession starts in April 2025, when VíasChile will take over the operation and collection of tolls on this motorway, which has already been in operation for more than 20 years. Over an estimated period of 7 years2, the company is also going to invest around €1,000 million in increasing capacity on different sections and rolling out cutting-edge technology systems for users, such as freeflow. These low-complexity extension and improvement works entail limited construction risks and will be executed under Abertis' proven experience in this type of projects. The concession does not foresee any upfront payment to the MOP.
Chilean toll road concessions run for a variable period of time that ends when the value of the revenues received matches the amount stipulated in the concession contract, with a maximum limit of ~30 years.
This award consolidates Abertis' new growth phase, which kicked off last year with the acquisition of new toll roads, after its shareholders ACS and Mundys signed a new governance agreement on how to grow the company. The new concession is set to contribute to Abertis’ growth and cash flow replacement strategy. Abertis manages a geographically diversified portfolio of more than 8,000 km; with Europe and the US accounting for 60% of EBITDA and Latin America for 40%; and with a strong currency mix in countries with a stable legal framework.
The main intercity motorway connecting two strategic locations
The 223 km-long Ruta 5 Santiago-Los Vilos motorway connects the Autopista Central (Central Motorway) with the Autopista Los Andes (Los Andes Motorway), both of which are already operated by VíasChile. It is the main intercity motorway, with limited alternative routes, connecting Santiago with Los Vilos, two strategic regions that account for more than half of the country's GDP. The motorway connects urban and central Chile with the industrial mining area in the north of the country, along with an area renowned as a tourist destination, namely Los Vilos and its surroundings.
The motorway also improves connectivity between the Metropolitan, Valparaíso and Coquimbo regions, and benefits an estimated population of 800,000 people. The Group ¡s planned improvements will cut travel times by providing additional lanes and improving the route’s geometry.
Ruta 5 presented a solid traffic performance with a 3.5% increase in the period 2019 - 2023, and includes a favourable tariff mechanism that guarantees protection against inflation.
Major synergies with VíasChile
This new growth operation bolsters Abertis' position in the Chilean market and will be operated by VíasChile, leveraging on significant operational synergies. The new asset has an excellent geographical connection with the network operated by VíasChile, as it is the natural continuation of the northern part of the Autopista Central. This makes for significant synergies in the management, maintenance contracts and supervision of the entire operation.
With more ten years’ presence in the country, VíasChile has established itself as a benchmark motorway operator in Chile, managing 412 kilometres of roads throughout four concessions in the Metropolitan and Valparaíso regions. The Autopista Central is the country’s busiest urban road and the central axis connecting Santiago. VíasChile currently has 460 direct employees in the country.
Abertis’ CEO José Aljaro stressed that "this key operation is going to let us to further consolidate our position in Chile, one of the most important countries where we are going to manage more than 600 km of toll roads, providing the Group with stability and demonstrating our capacity to continue growing, while maintaining a balanced portfolio".
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1 Abertis owns 80% of VíasChile, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) the remaining 20%.
2 Reference budget estimated by the MOP: UF 28.288.000
15 August 2024
The 223 km-long motorway is part of Ruta 5, Chile's trunk road, connects the capital Santiago with the coastal city of Los Vilos, two strategic regions that account for more than half of the country's GDP, and links the Central Motorway with the Los Andes Motorway, both of which VíasChile already operates.
5 June 2024
•The event, conducted by the Abertis Foundation's president, Elena Salgado, was a key meeting point for leaders, experts and professionals committed to road safety and mobility, like the Director-General for Traffic, Pere Navarro, as well as some of the partners and institutions that have supported the Foundation's work over the years, such as UNICEF Spain and the Polytechnic University of Madrid through the Abertis Chairs programme.