The operating company of the Indiana Toll Road, which went bankrupt last year, has been taken over by IFM Investors.
The Australian infrastructure fund manager has bought all in the equity in ITR Concession Company, which has the exclusive right to collect toll revenues from the 157-mile road for the next 66 years.
ITRCC, a joint venture set up by Australia’s Macquarie Atlas Roads and Spain’s Cintra, leased the toll road from the State of Indiana in 2006.
After entering bankruptcy, the courts allowed ITRCC to be sold to a new investor. IFM Investors paid $5.73bn (€5.23bn) for the company.
It is IFM Investors’ second North American toll road investment and will be the fourth toll road in its portfolio. The infrastructure portfolio now has 30 assets in total.
Julio Garcia, head of infrastructure for North America at IFM Investors, said it was part of “our stated approach to expanding our North American portfolio”.
He said the Indiana Toll Road “will soon undergo a series of improvements designed to enhance the customer experience”.
The $43bn IFM Investors, owned by 30 pension funds, said planned improvements will “revitalise one of the most important transport corridors” in the US, while creating new construction jobs.
Indiana Toll Road is the only multi-lane, non-stop route between Chicago and the Ohio Turnpike.
