Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), has announced that it has made an investment of US$300 million on behalf of its clients into the Pocahontas Parkway concession.

This investment is the result of a process in which AllianzGI’s clients provided a financing commitment in September 2016 to support Globalvia’s bid for the acquisition of Pocahontas Parkway.

The financing consisted of two bullet tranches of unlisted bonds with an up to 35-year term that were privately placed with US and European investors via AllianzGI’s established infrastructure debt platform. GVI used the proceeds to fund a portion of the acquisition price of Pocahontas Parkway.

Pocahontas Parkway is an 16.7 kilometers cash and fully electronic toll road with an elevated bridge crossing the James River. Globalvia has an 89 year term on the concession, which is located southeast of Richmond, Va. and 895 toll plaza links Interstate 95 at Chippenham Parkway (Route 150) with Interstate 295 to create a southern bypass of the city. It is the only crossing of the James River for six miles in either direction. With its open road tolling, customers with an E-ZPass® may travel without stopping to pay tolls. The Commonwealth of Virginia planned and constructed Pocahontas Parkway and the road opened to travelers in 2002.

The AllianzGI Infrastructure debt team has completed investments of US$9.2 billion between the US and Europe since 2013. The U.S infrastructure portfolio has several large infrastructure investments, the first being the US$700 million acquisition stage investment in the Indiana Toll Road in May 2015, subsequent investments include Chicago Skyway, the Long Beach Civic Center P3 project and Grande Prairie Wind.

White & Case LLP acted as legal counsel to the AllianzGI investors.

Commenting on the transaction, Javier Pérez Fortea, Chief Executive Officer of Globalvia said:

“With this concession, we were able to establish a permanent and operational presence in the US market while continuing to provide exceptional service standards as a leader in infrastructure management. Entering the US market supports our long-term goal to grow our business within the US and AllianzGI helped make that possible by providing a flexible finance structure.”

Commenting on the transaction, Paul David, Head of Americas, Infrastructure Debt at AllianzGI, said:

“Our investment in Pocahontas Parkway is another great example of how AllianzGI is delivering investment products demanded by our base or long-term liability matching clients and filling a gap for the Sponsors of infrastructure projects. Globalvia was able to obtain from our clients a tailored solution that included a financing commitment during the M&A bid process and dedicated support of a AllianzGI’s infrastructure debt professionals to achieve closing on an expedited timetable”.