Indiana Toll Road

Australia’s IFM Investors has signed an agreement to acquire ITR Concession (ITRCC) the company, which is currently operating the Indiana Toll Road, in a deal worth A$5.7bn ($4.3bn).

As part of the concession and lease agreement between ITRCC and the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), ITRCC will operate and maintain the 157-mile, limited access, divided highway Indiana Toll Road.

Spanning northern Indiana, from its border with Ohio to the Illinois state line near Chicago, the road feeds directly into two toll roads at the state lines, which include the Chicago Skyway in the west and the Ohio Turnpike in the east.

Under the terms of the agreement, ITRCC will also be granted the exclusive right to collect toll revenues from the toll road during the agreement term.

"We believe this is a unique opportunity to invest in a high-quality, US transportation infrastructure asset."

The agreement has a remaining life of 66 years.

According to IFM, the closing of the transaction is subject to obtaining necessary third-party and government authorisations and approvals.

IFM Investors infrastructure – North America head Julio Garcia said: "We believe this is a unique opportunity to invest in a high-quality, US transportation infrastructure asset.

"IFM Investors views the Indiana Toll Road as an essential operating asset for its strategic geographical position, long concession duration and inflation and GDP-linked tolling regime."

Pursuant to a prepackaged plan of reorganisation of ITRCC confirmed by order of the Bankruptcy Court, the special committee of ITRCC’s board of directors was granted the authority to run a bidding process for the sale of ITRCC.

Following this, the committee has approved the sale to IFM Investors under the terms of the purchase and sale agreement.

Image: Indiana Toll Road at Kennedy Avenue. Photo: courtesy of Retaildesigner via Wikipedia.