COFIDES has agreed to take a further 6.5 million-euro holding in the franchise company headed by ALDESA Group that was awarded the construction and operation of two toll motorways in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

In 2008, COFIDES invested 12.3 million euros, drawn from Fund for Foreign Investment (FIEX) resources, to acquire 24 % of the franchise’s share capital. With this new outlay, it enlarges its share to 36.5 % of the company’s equity.

FIEX’s investment target has a 30-year franchise to build, operate, keep up and maintain 93 km of the "Arriaga-Ocozocoautla” motorway, and to modernize and operate the 46.5-km long “Tuxtla Gutiérrez-San Cristóbal de las Casas” motorway. Now that construction has been completed and the entire length of road open to traffic, the franchise is fully operational.

With a total investment of over 205 million euros and the creation of 450 associated jobs, the project will have a substantial beneficial effect on the socio-economic development of the Mexican state of Chiapas. This project forms part of the “2007-2012 Road Programme” instituted by the Mexican Federal Government’s Secretariat for Communications and Transport to modernize and develop the country’s infrastructure.