Delta sells Talca-Chillán tollroad stake to Cintra

Chilean engineering and construction firm Delta has sold its Talca-Chillán tollroad stake to majority shareholder Madrid-based concessions operator Cintra, Chilean paper Diario Financiero quoted Delta executive Helmut Stehr as saying. "We were forced to sell to reorganize the company and we are satisfied," said Stehr. Although the executive did not comment what it received for selling its 34% stake due to confidentiality requirements, the report said Delta's stake was worth some US$15mn. Earlier this year, Delta Edificación president Jorge Ríos announced the plans to sell the 34% stake, as well as plans to sell its 100% stake in Region V tollroad Nogales-Puchuncaví. The sale of its tollroad assets would be due to lower than projected traffic levels, and higher than expected investment outlays. Regarding the Region V tollroad, Stehr said their plan still remains to sell off the Region V tollroad, but that to date nothing concrete exists. The report said this tollroad is worth some US$12mn. Apart from Talca-Chillán, Cintra also controls in Chile the Ruta de los Ríos, Autopista del Maipo and Ruta de la Araucanía tollroads, and operates the Cerro Moreno airport.