Discover our milestones!
2023 has been a year marked by the first anniversary of our acquisition of Go-Ahead and our participation in iryo, a year in which we have added a new country to our portfolio, Colombia, following our vision of international growth. A year in which we have extended the concession term of our assets in Chile, Autopista del Itata, and Autopista del Aconcagua, happy to be able to celebrate the trust placed in us to continue with both projects.
In addition to this, we are embarking on the exciting project of making the connected roads of the future a reality with the NeoRoads initiative, led by our Openvia team, and of positioning ourselves in the disruptive world of Advanced Air Mobility with our brand Bluenest by Globalvia. We count on innovation and on all of us who promote it and believe in it to provide solutions and adapt our assets to a futuristic reality that becomes more real every day.
In recent months, we have also dedicated our efforts to various projects that we hope will have a favorable resolution for us, and, in the meantime, we continue to improve day by day to offer the best service to our users and achieve new successes. A vision that is only possible by integrating sustainability transversally into our operations, mitigating our impacts, and leading the transition to transportation infrastructures that become more environmentally friendly every day and know how to respond to the climate challenge we are facing.
We do all of this, aware that the most important thing about this entire path is to travel it together, without leaving anyone behind. For this reason, we have proposed reinforcing our commitment to Diversity and Equality to guarantee that everyone feels free and can develop their maximum potential as professionals in the Globalvia Group. We are already working on this commitment and will continue to grow during 2024, supported by our recently created Network of Diversity Ambassadors, which is extended to all collaborators to help us promote this matter in the Group.
All of this is just a glimpse of the progress we have made in the last year, thanks to the great commitment of our teams worldwide. We want to thank to all of you who made this thrilling journey with us!
Changing the world together!
Looking back on what we have been through as a team over the last 12 months, we are very proud of what we have achieved together. A journey that has not always been easy and in which we have encountered challenges that seemed to surpass us and before which we have given the best of ourselves, always looking ahead and learning along the way. This commitment has led us to reach significant milestones in 2022.
The acquisition of the Go-Ahead Group has transformed us as a company, introducing us into a new business thanks to which we are now present in 11 countries and has brought us closer to a new partner with whom we will surely continue conquering new challenges. In addition, this year, we have gone up to high speed with iryo, the first Spanish private high-speed rail operator, a project that excites us and of which we are proud to be a key player, contributing our solidity and experience in the rail sector.
We have also taken important steps hand in hand with Openvia, bringing the mobility of the future to the present. And it is that in 2022 our teams have continued to develop projects and solutions, all to provide a differential value in the user experience. Connected and intelligent roads, the development of advanced air Mobility, or the launch of our first open innovation program are just some of the milestones that allow the Globalvia Group to evolve and adapt in this constantly changing world, always at the cutting edge of the latest technologies.
The important thing is that as we grow and add successes, our hallmarks, who we are, continue to accompany us wherever we go. Our commitment to sustainability continues to position us as a benchmark in the infrastructure and mobility sector. Thus, for the fourth consecutive year, we are leaders in the GRESB sustainability index, a recognition that values our efforts to maintain the highest standards in ESG matters. In addition, on our way to leading the transformation towards a low-carbon economy, the international initiative SBTi has validated our targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, being one of the first companies in the sector to have achieved it.
Together, we have come this far with each project, idea, and success!
Changing the world together!
2021 was yet another year in which we enthusiastically continued to give the very best of Globalvia to the over 250 million users who place their trust in us through our daily work. Although the global situation of uncertainty we are immersed in has brought challenges in many aspects, our essence, namely Commitment, Excellence, Solutions and Passion, i.e. the things that make us what we are, meant we were able to continue making progress and reach new milestones, always through the work and huge efforts by all of you, a team of 2,000 professionals in the 7 countries where we operated over the last 12 months.
It was a year in which we added Autopista Vespucio Norte and Túnel de San Cristóbal to our portfolio, thus consolidating our presence in Chile in line with our long-term international growth strategy. At the same time, we successfully completed the disinvestment transaction in the Company AUNETI – Autovía Nuevo Necaxa Tihuatlán – in Mexico.
We also made further progress on the development of disruptive projects through Openvia, our innovation and technology platform, with the aim of improving the experience of our users, and we also committed further to mobility of the future, embarking into the world of Urban Air Mobility partnered by EHang. In addition to this alliance, we also invested €3 million in the Spanish start-up Meep, which specializes in mobility as a service or (MaaS), accounting for another milestone achieved by our Company, as the first investment we have ever made in a start-up.
We also reached new achievements in regard to sustainability, and in addition to being named leaders according to the international GRESB index for the third year on the run, we are also very proud to have become carbon neutral at six of our Companies in Spain and Costa Rica. This is undoubtedly a huge step forward in our commitment to #aporelcero, an objective that is defined in our Strategic Sustainability Plan, known as Sustaimobility 2024, which also came about this year. This comprises a roadmap that places climate action, user-centric mobility, social commitment and good governance at the center of our Company, as strategic pillars for everybody at Globalvia.
We hope that 2022 will be another year of growth and that together we will be able to carry on reaching milestones as we have until now.
Changing the world together!
In the worst months of the Covid-19 pandemic we kept our concessions operating, adapting to new ways of working, and providing our teams with all the necessary resources and safety so that our activity would not stop at any time, and we could thus continue providing society with our essential services.
With the aim of reinforcing our social actions, we supported those who work to protect and provide the most vulnerable members of our society with the right opportunities. Consequently, over such difficult months, we maintained and reinforced our commitment to the foundations and organizations we work with, whilst at the same time embarking on new cooperation processes with entities who needed our support.
We launch Openvia
Our new technology and innovation platform, through which we channel our projects to improve the user experience and provide new mobility solutions and opportunities. Over the last twelve months leading projects such as Tap&Go, Slora by Globalvia and Meep Sevilla by Globalvia have all been materialized.
The GRESB international sustainability index named us sustainable leaders in Road Management for the second year on the run, improving our score over the previous year.
Furthermore, we repositioned and launched our new brand the same year to become a mobility benchmark.
We have been playing a significant role in society for many years now. Nevertheless, our brand did not reflect this. We therefore decided to change it and we evolved to transmit what we really do: change the world together. Passion, Commitment, Excellence and Solutions are the values that guide us on our path towards a more connected, collaborative, sustainable society.
With the launch of our new brand, we have consolidated our commitment to connect people with their possibilities, while always observing the very highest standards of ethics and responsibility. We have embarked on a new stage in which we embrace the challenges of the mobility sector with excitement. A sector in which we want to be closer to you, to all our users, allies and the countries where we operate.
Because the best way to go further is to do it together.
Throughout that year we worked on some interesting initiatives, projects and activities with the aim of providing new mobility services through a digital infrastructure in a collaborative ecosystem to improve the user experience.
Through this objective, we want to respond to the challenges, needs and business opportunities, and to maximize the value of our assets.
We secured the new operation and maintenance contract for the toll-free ring road highways in the Metropolitan Area of Dublin for an initial period of 5 years with the possibility of extending it to 8 years with a controlling majority.
We reached 40.4% of Itínere by buying the shares that Abanca and VidaCaixa still held, for a total of 3.35 million Euros.
Metro de Sevilla and Tranvías de Barcelona celebrated their tenth and fifteenth anniversaries respectively. And both of them had cause to celebrate, with record numbers of passengers since operations began: Metro de Sevilla with nearly 17 million, and TRAM with 29.8 million fares.
We integrated the Sustainable Development Goals in our three-year Sustainability strategy. The Sustainability Committee and the Company’s employees defined the 5 SDG’s that we will officially work towards at all levels through commitment and effort: Quality Education (4), Gender Equality (5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (8), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (9) and Climate Action (13).
We continue to adhere to the #COMPAIES4SDGs campaign to promote knowledge, dissemination and fulfilment of the SDGs at world level.
We made the biggest investment in our history with the purchase of 40.1% of the concessionary company Itínere.
Autopista Costa Arauco (formerly Ruta 160) completed its transformation process in line with our business model, aligning its policies, procedures and people management to our specifications.
In February Autovía Santiago Lampa was officially received by the Ministry of Public Works of Chile, two months before the contractual deadline.
Pocahontas Parkway (USA) and Autopista del Aconcagua (Chile) both implemented their free flow toll systems, in May and August respectively. Tramvia Metropolità and Tramvia Metropolità del Besòs, our concession companies managing the 6 Barcelona tramway lines, became the leading tramways in Spain in terms of number of passengers at the year close, totaling 29 million users. Tranvía de Parla, on the other hand, reached the figure of 50 million passengers since it opened and has reported a demand growth of 5% compared to the previous year. And finally, Metro de Sevilla closed 2018 with an all-time record at the year end, slightly short of 17 million users, accounting for an increase of 5% over 2017.
Our strategy focusses on and is committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Indeed, after successfully passing the first stage of the dissemination campaign in 2017, we furthered our commitment and adhered to the second part of #COMPANIES4SDGs.
We established our Sustainability Committee as the principal body to design our strategy with regard to this subject, and to implement, monitor and assess all actions carried out in the 8 countries where our business takes place.
We became the main shareholder in the A23-Beira Interior highway in Portugal through the purchase of 33.33% of the shares.
We increased our holding in Autoestrada Transmontana to 96% with the purchase of 46% of the state company Auto-Estradas XXI Subconcessionária Transmontana, S.A. from the company SDC Investimientos, and between July and October we increased our holding in the A23-Beira Interior concession to reach 100% of the capital.
We acquired 100% of the Ruta 160 shares held by Acciona, thus increasing to four the number of Chilean highways under our management. On May 31st we ended the first public issue of bonds for our first 10 years of business for the amount of 300 million US Dollars, subscribed by 57 institutional investors.
Once again we subscribed to the 10 Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, publicly submitting their Communication on Progress report.
We joined the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) dissemination campaign approved by the United Nations at the Sustainable Development Summit held in September 2015. These 17 universally applicable goals were proclaimed as the principal challenges to achieve a better world between now and 2030.
Ruta 27, one of the concessions under our management, was awarded the Country Brand license “esencial Costa Rica”.
We renewed our Integrated Management System certificate until 2019 covering Quality, Environment and Health and Safety at Work.
On March 17th we opened our Shareholder Structure thanks to FCC and Bankia signing the sale of 100% of our shares to the OPTrust, PGGM and USS funds. We completed the improvement in terms of safety and accessibility for users and pedestrians on Autopista del Aconcagua, one of our two Chilean highway concessions.
On December 20th we entered the US market by successfully securing the purchase of Pocahontas Parkway located in Richmond, Virginia.
All our highway and railway concessions ended the year with record figures in terms of traffic and number of passengers.
We successfully completed the disinvestment transaction of 78.68% of the holding we had in the Castellón Multipurpose Terminal (Spain) through the sale to Grup TCB and 33% of our holding in the Son Espases Mallorca University Hospital Concession in the Balearic Islands (Spain) through the sale to the company Aberdeen Infrastructure (HoldCo) B.V.
On July 30th, the Board of Directors of the National Council of Concessions of Costa Rica, presided by the Minister of Public Works and Transport, ratified the Final Commissioning of Section II of Ruta 27, a concession managed by Globalvia.
In August, our creditors, namely OPTrust, PGGM and USS exercised their pre-emptive right to acquire our shares. This transaction was executed within the framework of the FCC and Bankia share sale process (50% and 50%) in their respective selective disinvestment processes. Finally, in October the agreement was formalized in which the three pension funds, OPTrust, PGGM and USS acquired 100% of Globalvia’s shares for the amount of almost 420 million Euros.
We acquired Acciona’s 11.78% share in Tramvía Metropolitá, S.A., and 12.88% in Tramvía Metropolitá del Besòs, S.A., thereby controlling 42.44% and 43.05% of those companies respectively.
We opened Metro de Málaga, making Málaga the sixth city in Spain where this transport system is operated.
We opened the section Nuevo Necaxa – Ávila Camacho (TC1) on Autopista México – Tuxpan, consisting of 37 km of highway with two carriageways of two lanes in each direction, six tunnels and twelve bridges operated by means of a payment scheme by availability.
With the purchase of 3.53% of Túnel del Sóller in March and 5.30% in November, we held 98.1% of the shares.
We increased our holdings in Tramvía Metropolitá del Baix by 0.95% and by 0.96% in Tramvía Metropolitá del Besòs.
We closed the agreement for the sale and purchase of Metro de Sevilla (Spain).
We were awarded the operation and maintenance contract for 161 km of highway in the Dublin urban area. By doing so, we become the leading highway operator in Ireland.
The section Ávila Camacho – Tihuatlán (TC2) on Mexico-Tuxpan highway was opened, spanning 48.1 km, consisting of 2 lanes and a specific toll system.
Our branch company Globalvia Inversiones was established, which contributes selected assets for fund investment, mainly shares in highway and railway concessions.
We were awarded the concession for construction and operation of the Transmontana IP4 highway between Vila-Real and Bragança in Portugal (194 km long) for a period of 30 years.
Since 2007 we have been carrying out all the procedures to transfer the holdings by our shareholders in the different concessionary companies who contribute to the capital at a share of 50:50.
We were awarded the concession of Autopista Necaxa-Tihuatlán (85 km long), which is the main highway joining Mexico DF and Veracruz, for a period of 30 years.
