Cintra

Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A.

Type	Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Madrid, Spain
Key people	Enrique Díaz-Rato Revuelta (CEO), Rafael del Pino y Calvo-Sotelo (Chairman of the board)
Products	Toll roads, car parks
Revenue	€735.9 million (2008)[1]
Operating income	€400.8 million (2008)[1]
Profit	(€56.3 million) (2008)[1]
Owner	Ferrovial
Number of employees	1,950 (2008)[1]
Website	www.cintra.es

Cintra, S.A. (Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte) is one of the largest private developers of transport infrastructure in the world. Its assets are fundamentally toll roads and car parks, in which it has a total investment of €16billion. Formerly traded on the Madrid Stock Exchange and part of the Spanish benchmark IBEX 35 stock index, Cintra was reacquired by its former owner Ferrovial in December 2009.

Introduction

• The Company was founded in 1998 as a spin off from Ferrovial Group with the objective of focusing on Ferrovial's infrastructure development business. Initially Ferrovial's toll road assets were transferred to the new company and, subsequently, its car park assets were also transferred.^[2] A controlling stake continued to be owned by Ferrovial, which maintained a 66.88% shareholding. Cintra was reacquired in full by Ferrovial in December 2009.^[3] The deal was structured as a reverse takeover (despite both companies being publicly traded),^[4] resulting in Ferrovial taking Cintra's stock market listing and ISIN code.
• Operating in Canada, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the USA, the company currently operates 23 highways (set to rise to 25: see 'recent developments' below) totaling 2,841 km. Its asset portfolio includes 3 North American highway concessions: majority stakes in the 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR) in Ontario, the Chicago Skyway, the Indiana Toll Road; as well as various highways on the Spanish peninsula, such as Madrid’s M45, the Autema, Ausol 1 & II highways, and the Radial 4.
• In 2005, Cintra was named strategic partner of the State of Texas for the subsequent 50 years, in order to help develop the Trans-Texas Corridor. It was to be operated in a partnership with San Antonio, Texas based Zachry Construction Company. Widely seen as one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the USA, the project was eliminated as the scope and invasive nature of the project were exposed. Cintra continues working with the local administration to deliver infrastructure.

Business model

• The nature of Cintra’s business has been to create value through effective management of its infrastructure assets. These assets, especially its toll road concessions, typically require a large initial investment, yet then generate stable incomes over long periods of time. The weighted average lifespan of its infrastructure assets is reported to be close to 75 years.
• Cintra derives around 70% of its revenues from its business activities outside of Spain. Canada, which reported €354m or 33% of Cintra’s total revenues in the first three quarters of 2008, is the country which contributes most in this regard.^[5]
• Cintra's Car Parks business currently manages over 300,000 parking spaces in close to 140 cities in Spain and Andorra. It is the largest Spanish company, according to the number of spaces under management, and offers a varied and complete range of management services, including: underground parking, parking on public roads, residential parking and vehicle removal.

Recent developments

• In Jan 2009, Cintra was awarded two new significant projects: the A1 in Poland, and two segments of the regional corridor ‘North Tarrant Express’ located in the Dallas / Fort Worth area of Texas:^[6]

- The former concession was commissioned by the Polish infrastructure ministry to build, finance and operate three sections of the 180km A1 toll road between Strykow and Pyrzowice. It will require a total investment of approx. €2.1bn^[7]

- The latter concession, in which Cintra owns 75% of the winning consortium company (the other 25% is held by Meridiam), is for 52 years and will measure 21.4km. Assuming financing and other pending requirements are fulfilled as planned, the company’s total number of highways will increase to 25.^[8]

• The company has recently expressed an interest in possible divestments of both its Car park and Chilean toll road businesses.^[9]
• Cintra is a sponsor of the M3 Motorway being built in Ireland, through the Hill of Tara archaeological complex.^[10] The Irish Justice ruled in 2007 in favor of the project, which is supported by the Irish Green Party and local communities, citing a substantial boost to trade and communications.
• A consortium composed of Cintra, Macquarie and Porr has emerged as preferred bidder for the D4 - R7 expressways public private partnership (PPP) project in Slovakia.^[11]

Cintra's toll roads

• Europistas - Europistas
• Ausol - Ausol
• Autema - Autema
• Autopista M-45 - Autopista M-45
• Autopista R-4
• Autopista Madrid-Levante
• Autopista M-203 but this one is closed because of problems with the government of Madrid State
• Eurolink M4
• 407 ETR
• Euroscut Algarve
• Euroscut Norte Litoral
• Chicago Skyway
• Indiana East-West Toll Road
• Texas State Highway 130 Segments 5 & 6 only (joint venture with Zachry American Infrastructure)
• North Tarrant Express (joint venture with NTE Mobility Partners)

References

1. "Annual Report 2008" (PDF). Cintra. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
2. Cintra: History
3. "Notice of the Technical Advisory Committee of the IBEX Indices concerning the merger between Grupo Ferrovial, S.A. and Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A." (PDF). Sociedad de Bolsas. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
4. Rucinski, Tracy (20 October 2009). "Ferrovial to close Gatwick sale in coming weeks". Reuters. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
5. Cintra Press Release 29.10.2008
6. Cintra: New Contracts
7. A1: Poland
8. Cintra selected for the North Tarrant Express
9. Financial Times Article
10. 'Celtic Tiger threatens 'very soul of historic Ireland'
11. 'MegaProject 591: Cintra - Macquarie - Porr consortium wins Slovakian highway concession'

External links

• Cintra official website
• Cintra Aparcamientos (car parks) official website
• Second link for Cintra Aparcamientos (car parks) official website