Mexican toll road concession Copexa has secured financing to pay back an existing loan, extending the tenor and lowering the spread on its long-term debt.

Copexa will use use a 20-year MXN4.49bn (US$242 million) loan from four lenders, which are CaixaBank, GFNorte, Inbursa and Santander, to refinance an 18-year MXN4.75bn (US$245 million) loan from February 2008.

The company, which is owned by Spanish infrastructure developer Isolux Corsan and Portugal's Ascendi Group, operates the Autopista Perote-Banderilla and the Libramiento (by-pass) de Xalapa toll roads in Veracruz. The concessionaire signed the 30-year contract in February 2008.

The new loan with better market conditions will allow the consortium to pay back the loan with less interest, and therefore saving money. Furthermore, the new loan has a three-year grace period. The new loan carries the following spread:

• 250bp over the Equilibrium Interbank Interest Rate in Mexico (TIIE) until 2025
• 275bp over TIIE from 2026 to 2030 and
• 300bp from 2031 to 2035.

The previous loan had a spread of:

• 250bp over TIIE in 2015
• 350bp over TIIE from 2016 to 2020
• 375bp over TIIE from 2021 to 2023
• 425bp over TIIE from 2024 until maturity.

The projects involves the construction, operation, and maintenance of the highways.

The Perote-Xalapa highway and the Xalapa Bypass are considered one of the most emblematic projects in Mexico.

This infrastructure, the most modern and safe in the state of Veracruz, is 60 kilometers long and has four lanes, a 346 meters tunnel and a viaduct measuring 470 meters in length and 114 meters high.

Aaditionally, Copexa issued the first corporate bond in the Mexican market this year, when it sold a US$79 million backed asset bonus in late January.​