Delivering Due Diligence on a Toll Road Acquisition

Infrastructure · United States

The opportunity

A European infrastructure concession group was evaluating the acquisition of a toll road in the United States. The asset was an eight-mile limited-access highway connecting a major interstate corridor with a river crossing south of the state capital — a strategic link in the regional transport network. The road had been developed as a public-private partnership and had changed hands several times, with previous concessionaires encountering financial difficulties. The European group saw an opportunity to acquire the asset at an attractive valuation and integrate it into a broader portfolio of transport concessions in the Americas.

Before committing to the purchase, the group required an independent technical and economic due diligence covering both capital expenditure and operating expenditure over the remaining concession term. The assessment needed to provide a clear picture of the asset’s physical condition, its traffic and revenue trajectory and the investment required to maintain it to concession standards.

Our role

We were appointed to carry out the due diligence assignment and to assemble the specialist team required to deliver it. The scope encompassed a structural and pavement condition assessment of the road, bridges and ancillary infrastructure, a review of historical and forecast traffic volumes, an analysis of toll revenue performance against projections, an evaluation of maintenance and operating costs, and an assessment of capital expenditure requirements for the remaining concession period.

The project demanded the coordination of civil and structural engineers, traffic consultants, financial analysts and environmental specialists — a multidisciplinary team that needed to work to a compressed timetable aligned with the acquisition timeline. We managed the engagement from inception through to the delivery of the final due diligence report, ensuring that each workstream fed into a coherent assessment of technical risk and financial performance.

The outcome

The due diligence report provided the client with the confidence to proceed with the acquisition. The European group completed the purchase, entering the United States market with a concession asset that complemented its existing portfolio. The assignment demonstrated our capacity to mobilise and manage a specialist team across disciplines on a complex infrastructure transaction — delivering the technical clarity required to support an investment decision of this scale.