The Supreme Court has rejected the claim of 4,000 million from ACESA (a subsidiary of Abertis) to the State due to a drop in traffic on the A-7 highway, as reported by the court in a statement. The ruling does estimate the granting of 32.9 million to the company for investments that were recognized by the Administration.
The compensation requested by the company was for the lane expansion works from two to three lanes carried out by Acesa starting in 2006. The Supreme Court details that the ruling refers to the “agreement entered into between ACESA and the General Administration of the State to modify the AP-7E highway”. In that agreement, an extension was agreed upon due to “the substantial increase in traffic on that highway and the repeated problems of vehicle congestion at specific times and routes.”
The Court adds that “after the expiration of the concession period on August 31, 2021, the Council of Ministers on February 18, 2022 adopted the agreement to compensate for the works carried out, in the amount of 1,069.9 million euros , but the agreement was challenged by ACESA, which considered that the amount corresponding to it under the Agreement was 5,373 million euros.”
The news was very poorly received by investors in ACS, the company that owns Abertis. The titles fell more than 8% just over half an hour before the market closed.
