ACS continues to take advantage of the good moment of infrastructure in countries such as North America and remodeling its strategy in one of the fastest growing areas, that of concessions, which will definitely revolve around Abertis.
In the first six months of the year, the group chaired by Florentino Pérez obtained a profit of 385 million euros, 16.7% more, after raising revenues by 10.5%, up to 17,033 million euros. The debt stood at 1,165 million when collecting the new investments, for 2,040 million.
The improvement in results is mainly due to the concessions area, which raised profits by 37% and which the group has just reinforced with a strategic agreement around Abertis with the Italian Mundys, the former Atlantia.
ACS will transfer to Abertis 56% of the SH288 highway in Houston, the same one that it acquired last year for almost 1,000 million euros. In a note, the construction group explains that Abertis will now have a new, more global projection, in which it analyzes “new investment opportunities”.
Abertis has Mundys as the first shareholder, with 50% of the capital plus one share, while ACS has 30% and its German subsidiary, Hochtief, with the remaining 20%. Within the intricate power-sharing agreement signed five years ago, the Benneton family had taken over 14.5% of Hochtief, but ACS bought this stake a few months ago and raised its weight in the German group to 70%.
Today ACS and Mundys have announced a new agreement that goes beyond the 2018 shareholders’ agreement and that makes Abertis the great platform for Spanish and Italian growth in concessions. In the middle of last year, the two partners already agreed in an extraordinary meeting to inject 1,000 million euros into the concessions group.
The new “strategic” pact to seek Abertis’ “world leadership” increases the number of members of the board of directors, now made up of nine. ACS and Mundys will have twelve seats that will be divided equally, with which the Spanish group will gain some influence.
Mundys will continue to appoint the CEO, who is currently Francisco Aljaro, while ACS may appoint the Chairman, a position now held by Juan Santamaría. The Italian group also elects the secretary of the board and the Spanish group, the financial director.
On the current board of Abertis now sit, on behalf of ACS and apart from Santamaría, three directors, who are José Luis del Valle, Ángel García Altozano and Pedro López Jiménez. Apart from the CEO, Mundys has as representatives Jonathan Kelly, Enrico Laghi, Giampero Massolo and Claudio Boada, Blackstone’s representative in Spain, who is in turn a reference shareholder of the Italian group.
These changes will not imply a modification in the consolidation method, a key aspect in the financial results of each partner. Mundys will continue to register 100% of Abertis in its accounts and ACS will do so in proportion to its participation, also as up to now.
Florentino Pérez assures that ACS will support the growth of Abertis “with all resources”, while Alessandro Benetton, the vice president of Mundy and president of Edizione, affirms that the concession group is now in a position to “significantly expand its perimeter”. He also says that his group will provide him with the “necessary resources” for growth.
ACS closes the agreement after having reached a new historical maximum in its project portfolio, now valued at 72,484 million euros, 4.4% more than in the same period of the previous year.
54% of the awards correspond to North America, and of the total figure, 40% has to do with new infrastructure projects. Its construction business has improved its results by 25% in the first semester.
