Mirova enters Portugal with double toll road deal

French fund manager Mirova has made its first investments in Portugal with the acquisition of two toll roads in Madeira.

The group has bought a 23.8 percent share of the ViaExpresso concession and a 35.2 percent stake in the ViaLitoral PPP. The former is a €287 million project covering about 69km and has been operational since 2005, while ViaLitoral is over 36km long and has been operational since 2001. Both projects have been acquired from local consortium partners.

ViaLitoral and ViaExpresso’s concessions run until 2024 and 2029 respectively. Both PPPs were subject to a renegotiation by the Madeiran government in 2015, reducing the bill for the government by about €280 million, representing a saving of about 20 percent.

Mirova’s deal has come through its €700 million Core Infrastructure Fund. It follows up on the fund’s previous September deal, which saw it invest alongside PGGM in nine PPP projects in Spain, including four toll roads. That transaction came a few months after it paid Iridium €43 million for an 80 percent share of three hospitals in Spain’s Balearic Islands. Mirova’s €350 million Eurofideme-3 fund earlier this month saw an investment with GE in nine Spanish wind farms worth €298 million approved by the European Commission.

The firm is expected to launch successors to both funds this year and is looking to raise at least €1.5 billion from the two efforts.