‘Magdalena 2’ Connecting Medellin to ‘Ruta del Sol’ Highways Wins US$740 Million Finance
Colombia’s infrastructure agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced today (June 30) that the “Magdalena 2” project linking Medellin northward to the “Ruta del Sol” highways just won a COP$2.8 trillion (US$740 million) loan deal organized by Colombian coordinator Financiero de Desarollo Nacional (FDN).
The loan deal for ANI’s “Magdalena 2” concession “guarantees continuation of the execution of highway construction works that connect the Antioqueño municipality of Remedios with the Puerto Berrío bypass connector and then onward to the ‘Ruta del Sol’ highways at Cimitarra, Santander,” which will speed freight traffic to-and-from Cartagena and northern ports on the Caribbean.
FDN’s organization of the loan package involves U.S.-based Goldman Sachs, Spain’s Banco Santander, Bancolombia, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui, the Bank Credit Institute of Spain (ICO), France’s Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Banking, Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), Germany’s Siemens Financial Services and CAF-AM Ashmore.
“The financing is made up of three tranches that include a local loan in Colombian pesos, a loan in U.S. dollars and a bond issue governed under U.S. regulation. The sum of these three tranches guarantees all the resources for this financial closing,” according to ANI.
This “fourth generation” (4G) project includes 144 kilometers of new highway and a nearly complete, 1.36-kilometers-long bridge over the Magdalena River.
“It is expected that ‘functional unit four’ of the project — linking the Puerto Berrío bypass with Cimitarra thus connecting the departments of Antioquia and Santander — will come into operation in the second half of 2021, while by 2023 the construction phase will be completed for the entire corridor,” according to ANI.
