OHL said it is looking for new partners to buy 49% stakes in five infrastructure projects in Chile and Colombia before the end of the year.
The five greenfield projects are the Autopista Vespucio Oriente, the Camino Nogales-Puchuncavi and the Puente Industrial toll road concessions in Chile, the Puerto de Valparaiso port terminal concession in Chile and the Autopistas al Rio Magdalena 2 toll road concession in Colombia.
The Spanish construction company expects to earn €116m ($122m) from the sale of minority stakes in the projects and cut its equity contributions in half to roughly €146m. The new partners will also reduce the financing needs for each project, OHL said in a presentation of its Q4 2016 financial results.
The projects require an estimated €104m in investments in 2017, but OHL sees new partners footing the bill for €51m. The investors will then cover €34m of €70m in 2018, €18m of €36m in 2019, €15m of €31m in 2020 and €23m of €46m in 2021, OHL said.
OHL invested €114m in its four concessions in Chile and €50.5m in its one concession in Colombia through the end of last year. The company also spent €73.2m on the Autopista Norte toll road concession in Peru.
OHL’s concessions business recorded €520m in revenues in 2016, up 16.9% on the previous year. EBITDA, however, dipped 2.5% year-on-year to €799m, due to changes in the exchange rate. The concessions had €2.12bn in net debt at the end of last year, with €1.33bn from the Mexico subsidiary, €452m from the holding company and €335m in other project finance.
OHL won five projects in Latin America in 2016, including the €115m Camino Nogales-Puchuncavi and the €117m Evitamiento de Chimbote.
The Spanish firm added that it has secured a €747m financing package from relationship banks Bankia, Caixabank, Credit Agricole, Sabadell, Santander, Popular and Societe Generale. The financing includes a €190m credit line, a €465m securities line and a €92m reverse factoring line.
OHL said it will release a new strategic plan at the end of March.