Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure SICAV S.A. announced last week that it has completed the acquisition of a 33.33% interest in the Ohio River Bridge PPP Project from Bilfinger Berger Project Investments. 

Ohio River Bridge / East End Crossing PPP is a long term public-private-partnership concession procured by the Indiana Finance Authority for the development, design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a cable stayed bridge and associated roadway and facilities across the Ohio River, connecting Clark County Indiana and Jefferson County, Kentucky. The bridge is in close proximity to Louisville, Kentucky.

The concession term is equal to the construction period of 3.6 years plus 35 years of operations. The project payment mechanisms are comprised of a series of milestone payments to be received both during the construction period and shortly after the achievement of substantial completion and monthly availability payments in the operation period.

The construction work relating to the project is being undertaken by a joint venture between Walsh Construction Company and VINCI Construction Grand Projects JV, both of which are experienced in delivering large transportation infrastructure projects. Construction obligations have been passed down to the design build joint venture through a fixed price, date-certain, design build contract.

The concession expires in 2051 and is availability-based with no volume risk.

The acquisition of the stake in the Ohio River Bridge PPP Project was planned and included in the pipeline of projects to acquire from Bilfinger Berger. The fund raised £145 million on 11 December 2013 for those acquisitions.

 "We are delighted to complete our first U.S. PPP acquisition. This is one of a handful of availability-based project to be delivered in the US using PPP and we are excited to gain an early foothold in the promising US market. The project benefits from a very experienced construction joint venture and has long term financing in place and is not subject to any refinancing risk."

"The acquisition is accretive and consistent with our strategy of focusing on high quality PPP/PFI assets with strong government counterparties. Payments will come from the Indiana Finance Authority whose most recent bonds were rated "AA+" by Fitch with a stable outlook."