DIF Infrastructure III has acquired an additional 25% shareholding in the DBFO II Northern Irish road PPP project.

This is DIF's second add-on acquisition in the DBFO2 road project, taking its shareholding in the project to 70%. 

The £250 million project began construction in 2007. The projects is developed on a design, build, finance, operation and maintenance basis for a period of 30 years. The project was awarded to the Amey, Lagan and Ferrovial consortium. Amey Lagan Roads is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the entire 125 km length of road, including maintenance of pavements and structures.

The project is divided in three schemes:

• Scheme 1: Involved an upgrade of the existing A1 between Sprucefield and Cloghogue, including the provision of a new outer by-pass of the existing dual carriageway at Newry. It include the construction of 12.1 km of new dual 2 lane from Beechhill to Cloghogue. The new 2 lane dual carriageway required the construction of 20 structures ranging in size from an agricultural underpass to a 190m long viaduct as well as five grade separated junctions, six over bridges and seven underpasses.

• Scheme 2: Improvements along the A1 included the provision of four grade-separated junctions, 2 overbridges and 2 underpasses, and the closure of central reserve cross-overs in the immediate vicinity of these junctions. In addition, the junction improvements required the upgrading of existing infrastructure including drainage, surfacing, street lighting, signing, fencing, white lining and footways etc.

• Scheme 3: The improvement works on the A4 involves the realignment and upgrading to Dual 2 Lane All Purpose (D2AP) carriageway of the 20.5km A4 between Dungannon and Ballygawley. Work included the provision of six grade separated junctions and the construction of 13 over bridges and six underpasses along the line of the proposed scheme. The proposed route will cross seven designated water courses which will be traversed by new bridges.

The project was financed by index linked bonds, an EIB loan and a mezzanine loan facility.

In early July we published that Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) completed a restructuring of the financing arrangements of the project. AllianzGI acquired all of the bonds issued by Amey Lagan Roads Financial for a total valued of £130 million (US$223 million). The firm bought the bonds for third party investors including UK pension funds and Allianz group entities.