Abertis Infraestructuras S A : reaches 100% stake in its subsidiary in France (HIT-Sanef)

• The company reaches an agreement to acquire from CNP an additional 5.1% of HIT, which controls 100% of Sanef, for €238Mn.
• The Group strengthens its presence in its first market, France, a country with a robust concessions framework and with a clear commitment to public-private partnerships.

Abertis has reached an agreement to acquire from CNP an additional stake of 5.1% in Holding d'Infraestructures de Transport (HIT), the company which controls 100% of Sanef. This transaction will imply a cash out for Abertis of €238Mn. In this way, the Group will reach, at the closing of the last agreements announced, up to 100% stake in its French subsidiary.

Since the beginning of the year, Abertis has reached several agreements in order to acquire non-controlled stakes in HIT. After the purchase of stakes from CDC and AXA, last March the Group announced an agreement to acquire a stake from Predica of between 15% and 17% in HIT; and last 21 April, an agreement to acquire an additional 5.1% from FFP Invest.

In financial terms, and given that HIT is already fully consolidated in Abertis' accounts, the main impact of the acquisition of this additional 5.1% stake will be on the net profit, which will increase by €15Mn in the 2017 results. Net debt in Abertis will rise by the final paid amount.

These transactions demonstrate Abertis' ability to deliver growth within its existing asset base with financial discipline, reducing the operational risk profile and balancing its global presence with a larger weighting of the developed markets where it has been performing well for years.

In addition, this deal will increase the company's average portfolio duration and will provide a greater dividend stream from France, contributing to offset other concessions expirations over the coming years.

Abertis strengthens its growth strategy in robust economies, with stable concessions frameworks and with a clear commitment to the public-private partnerships in the toll road sector. In this sense, France offers big opportunities of value creation through future partnerships with the government in line with the previous capex for years and capex for tariffs agreements signed in the last years (Paquet Vert, Plan Relance).

Abertis in France

Abertis has operations in France since 2006 through HIT, which controls 100% of Sanef. The subsidiary directly operates more than 1,760 km of toll roads in the northwest of France, Normandie and Aquitaine, representing the 22% of the country's total toll roads network. Sanef manages five of the seven access routes to Île-de-France (Paris region) and so the traffic routes connecting Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to the north of France and the United Kingdom.

France is Abertis' biggest market. The business in France generated 34% of the Group's revenues (€1,658Mn) and EBITDA (€1,112Mn) in 2016.