Invepar plans entering bullet train
Valor Econômico
Invepar (Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura S.A.), a company controlled by the pension funds Previ, Funcef and Petros and minority interest of the contractor OAS, has in the bullet train project one of the great facts for this year. Besides seeking new businesses in road concessions, urban transport and airports, Invepar, owner of the Subway in Rio, earned R$ 900 million (US$ 511.4 million) in 2010, estimates it will earn 15% to 20% more in 2011 and go public and list its shares in the Bovespa between 2012 and 2013.
According to Gustavo Rocha, Executive Officer of the company, the bidding for the bullet train has great chances of being held in April. The date was rescheduled by the ANTT - Terrestrial Transportation National Agency, which released the bidding rules. "The project is being seen and analyzed for us to take the decision at the right time. But the idea is that the pension funds and OAS enter in the business through Invepar. The instructions (of the shareholder) is that Invepar enters the undertaking after it is bid, joining the winning consortium. The rules allow that, provided the company has not taken part in the competition in another group".
Last year was a year of structuring and consolidation of Invepar, which invested R$ 900 million (US$ 511.4 million) in the six companies operating under its umbrella: Linha Amarela, Raposo Tavares, Metrô Rio, 25% of CRT, Bahia Norte and Litoral Norte. Invepar has a holding structure. "2010 was the first year of operation of Raposo Tavares with the (toll) plazas working. We also made operational changes in Metrô Rio with the increase of the capacity from 560 thousand to 660 thousand passengers/day. Besides, we managed to put two more companies into the holding. We won the public bid of Bahia Norte and we acquired 25% of the CRT, which formerly belonged to OAS".
For 2011, the investment planned amounts to R$ 600 million (US$ 353 million). Only in the subway they will be R$ 250 million (US$ 147.1 million). At the end of the year begin arriving the 114 wagons ordered from China. Currently, the subway of Rio de Janeiro carioca has 182 wagons. With the Chinese wagons the fleet will increase 63% in 2012. Linha Amarela (the yellow line) will receive R$ 100 million (US$ 58.8 million); R$ 200 million (US$ 117.7 million) will go to Raposo Tavares and between R$ 100 million (US$ 58.8 million) and R$ 150 million (US$ 88.2 million) will be spent in Bahia-Norte. Invepar has its eyes on new road concessions as the third batch of concessions in São Paulo, in the interior. It intends to operate in the Northeast in projects of city streets. In Rio, for instance, the company is working in a public project of the City Hall, the Transolímpica, for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will connect Barra da Tijuca to Deodoro. In Pernambuco it is disputing a road complex project in the port of Suape.
The bullet train project is out of the investment budget for the year. "Depending on the investment and on our participation in the winning consortium it may be necessary that the shareholder invest resources for us to enter in the bullet train", said Rocha. He emphasizes in the agenda of the company it is foreseen the raising of cash in the capital market that might happen still in 2012, in case the conditions are favorable. "We are currently in the Bovespa Mais, we are still not traded on a stock exchange, but after the Bovespa Mais our path is the IPO". The shareholding structure of Invepar has Previ as the largest shareholder with 40%. Funcef and Petros withhold 20.30% each and OAS, 19.40%.
Despite the controversy it has been causing because of its cost (initially assessed at R$ 33 billion in the public rules), the project of the bullet train is defended by Rocha. "It is impossible look at the Rio, São Paulo, Campinas and São José axis without quality transportation on high-speed rail. From the point of view of country, of transport and mobility solution, I think it is a project that has all it needs to be a success. Today, at a distance of less than 500 kilometers, there is only one bullet train project in the world connecting two cities as important as Rio and São Paulo. It is the Tokyo/Kyoto section, in Japan".