US Citigroup to buy Sacyr's Itinere highway operator: company
December 01, 2008
Heavily indebted Spanish construction group Sacyr Vallehermoso said on Monday it was selling its toll road operator Itinere to a Citigroup infrastructure fund in a deal worth 7.88 billion euros.
Citi Infrastructure Partners will buy Itinere for 2.87 billion euros (3.63 billion dollars) and assume 5.01 billion euros in debt.
Sacyr said the deal would allow it to "considerably reduce its debt" to 12.48 billion euros.
Huge debts have pushed Sacyr to put its 20.01-percent stake in Spanish-Argentine oil major Repsol YPF up for sale.
Russian oil giant Lukoil is in talks to buy the stake. But the proposed deal has sparked concern in Spain that a Russian company would hold the largest part of the country's leading oil group.
Sacyr's managing director Ana de Pro told a news conference the company would continue to seek a buyer for its Repsol stake despite the Itinere deal.
Citigroup also reached a separate agreement to resell certain Itinere concessions in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Chile to infrastructure groups Abertis of Spain and Italy's Atlantia.
Sacyr shares, which were initially suspended on the Mardid stock market Monday, had jumped 7.80 percent to 8.15 euros by 0850 GMT in a market that was down 1.49 percent.