Australia’s IFM Investors has agreed to a $5.725 billion deal to operate the 157-mile toll road that runs across Indiana between the Ohio Turnpike and Chicago Skyway for the next 66 years, the Wall Street Journal reported today. “We see Indiana Toll Road as a critical component of the U.S. transport network and an asset that’s linked to U.S. GDP and CPI growth,” said Julio Garcia, IFM Investors’ head of infrastructure for North America. Garcia said that the deal would be about 43 percent debt-financed, and structured as investment-grade. Previously, the toll road was about 85 percent debt-financed in a “very aggressive financing structure that isn’t appropriate for the current environment,” he said. IFM is restricted from hiking toll rates beyond the concession’s so-called tolling mechanism, which ensures that any increases are closely tied to inflation. The 59-year-old road filed for bankruptcy last September after struggling for years with a heavy debt load and lower-than-expected traffic. A bankruptcy judge in October cleared ITR Concession Co., the operator of the toll road, to exit chapter 11 and to find a buyer to help the company pay off its debt.
