STOA becomes the first independent financial investor of São Paulo Line 6 project and consolidates its position in Brazil

Paris, January 20th, 2021 – STOA, an investment fund specialized in infrastructure projects across developing and emerging countries, and Acciona, a global group that develops and manages sustainable infrastructure solutions, announce today that STOA has acquired a 12.3% equity stake into Concessionária Linha Universidade S.A (Linha Uni), the project company entitled to carry out the São Paulo Metro Line 6 concession contract, taken over by Acciona on Oct 6th, 2020.

The São Paulo Metro Line 6 is the largest public-private infrastructure project under construction in Latin America, valued at EUR 2.3 billion (BRL 15 billion).

Throughout the 5-year construction period, STOA is expected to invest c. BRL 317 million into Linha Uni (EUR 49 million). STOA is supporting the company and Acciona in the process of securing a non-recourse debt financing package from Brazilian and international banks in order to pursue the construction works of Line 6, which had been halted since 2016 and are now expected to be completed by 2025. Once the metro works completed, Linha Uni will oversee the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure for an additional 19-year period.

Acciona has the required technical expertise and vast experience in the development of urban mobility initiatives. Over the past few years, Acciona has built over 3,000 kilometers of railroad and metro track and 600 kilometers of tunnels. In Brazil, Acciona’s existing work includes the development of two lots for line 2 of the São Paulo metro network. In the rest of the Latin America region, the company has executed line 3 of the Santiago de Chile Metro and is close to completing the construction of line 1 of the Quito Metro.

STOA is a top-tier French investment player specialized in infrastructure projects in developing and emerging countries. After two years of intense business development efforts across Latin America, São Paulo Metro Line 6 is STOA’s first public transportation project and STOA’s second investment in Brazil. It follows previous investments closed in countries including South Africa, Cameroon, Gabon, Malawi, Pakistan and India, for a total commitment of EUR 300 million over a three-year period.

This long-term investment into Latin America ‘s major PPP epitomizes STOA’s DNA” declared Marie-Laure Mazaud, STOA’s Deputy CEO, further describing STOA’s investment objectives: “supporting as a first mover sustainable infrastructure projects with high social and climate related benefits, bringing to the industrial partner in charge of project execution STOA’s extensive experience in financial and contractual structuring”.

Charles-Henri Malécot, STOA’s CEO, concluded:“Our team has helped improving the project’s contractual structure so that it is now up to international project finance standards and suited to welcome a non-recourse long-term financing, which would be a major breakthrough in the context of Brazilian infrastructures. STOA is also dedicated to help the Line 6 project reaching the IFC Performance Standards through a detailed environmental and social action plan”.

Once completed, São Paulo Metro Line 6 will serve more than 600,000 passengers per day. Line 6 will include 15 metro stations, running along a total of 15 kilometers. It will connect the center of the capital to the city’s northwest corner, crossing through several neighborhoods where some of São Paulo’s main universities are located.

Dernière mise à jour/Last update : 21/05/12