BELGIUM: International Public Partnerships Ltd has paid €33·3m to acquire HSH Nordbank's 25% stake in the PPP concession company which manages the Northern Diabolo rail link connecting Brussels airport with Infrabel's Brussels - Mechelen - Antwerpen line.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, investment fund INPP now owns 100% of the economic interest in the project, and 70·6% of the assets by value.
The 4·8 km Northern Diabolo opened in June 2012 was the first Belgian railway project to be financed as a PPP. The concession term provided for five years of construction, followed by 35 years of maintenance until 2047.
The concessionaire's revenues are based on an indexed availability fee, plus an element which is partly dependent on passenger throughput with protective downside mechanisms.
Announcing its acquisition of HSH Nordbank's stake on September 24, INPP said the opportunity to make the additional investment had arisen through pre-emptive rights obtained when it acquired a 75% economic interest in the project 2007.
Marcus Kleiner, Head of Origination Infrastructure & Rail at HSH Nordbank said the 'successful completion of our capital investment is once again an impressive demonstration of the fact that infrastructure projects of this kind are a highly profitable asset class'.
- The Diabolo project was described in detail in the July 2012 issue of Railway Gazette International, which subscribers can access in the digital archive.
