Vía 40 Express obtains long-term financing for third lane of Bogotá-Girardot highway

Cuatrecasas advised Vía 40 Express and its shareholders on the long-term financing for the project to build, improve and restore the existing infrastructure of the Bogotá-Girardot highway, one of Colombia's most important roads, with 17 million people using it annually. 

This transaction has led to the concessionaire obtaining long-term financing of over 2.5 billion pesos to develop the project involving building, operating, maintaining and managing (social, environmental and land management) the addition of the third lane to the Bogotá-Girardot two-lane highway. 

The transaction, which involved the Colombian, US and French jurisdictions, is one of the largest and most important closed in Colombia due to its impact on national mobility and the financing amount, but also due to it involving a complex financing structure including several tranches with different maturity dates and a revolving facility.

“We congratulate the Vía 40, VINCI and Conconcreto teams for achieving this important milestone. The Bogotá-Girardot highway is Colombia’s busiest highway and one of the most important in the country, and this project is essential to increase the highway’s capacity and benefit the over 17 million users traveling on it each year,” said Manuel Quinche, managing partner of Cuatrecasas in Colombia, who led the transaction. 

Also participating in the transaction were lawyers Natalia Arango, Sofía Esguerra, María Mónica Latorre, Manuela Gaitán (Project Finance); Diana Rueda and Santiago Mendoza (Infrastructure); and Carolina Trejos and Andrea del Pilar Vargas (Corporate and Exchange). The law firms PPU, Paul Hastings and Clifford Chance participated alongside Cuatrecasas.