The Merseylink consortium was appointed as the project company to design, build, finance and operate the Mersey Gateway Project in March 2014.
The appointment came after a 18-month procurement process involving a competitive dialogue process with three shortlisted bidders. This ended when Merseylink was appointed as Halton Borough Council’s preferred bidder in June 2013.
The Merseylink consortium is made up of experienced sponsors with a track record in delivering major infrastructure projects, alongside their partners, who are world leaders in their field.
The sponsors are:
Macquarie Capital (Australia)
Macquarie Capital, part of global financial services provider Macquarie Group, has more than 38 offices in 25 countries.
Macquarie Capital provides Macquarie Group’s corporate advisory, capital markets, underwriting and wholesale structuring capabilities.
It offers a breadth of services including mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, corporate restructuring and debt advice, equity capital markets, corporate broking, private equity placements and principal products. In the year to 31 March 2013, Macquarie Capital advised on 447 transactions valued at £65bn.
Macquarie Capital is a global leader in infrastructure advisory and Public-Private Partnerships, with a focus on financing and developing infrastructure assets. In the European PPP market alone, Macquarie Capital has closed over £10bn of projects in the last 10 years.
Recent projects include Walney 1 OFTO, Walney 2 OFTO, Irish Schools Bundle 1, Irish Schools Bundle 2, Flemish Bus Depots and Antwerp Tram PPP.
Globally, Macquarie Capital’s recent major infrastructure experience includes the Gothels Bridge P3 in New York (£1bn), Virginian Midtown Tunnel PPP Project (£1.3bn), Victoria Desalination Plant (£3.4bn), Royal Adelaide Hospital (£1.8bn) and Denver FasTrack (£1.2bn). Other infrastructure PPP transport experience includes the North Tarrant Express (£700m), Florida I-595 (£1.6bn), Lyndon B Johnson Managed Lanes P3s (£2bn), Quebec Autoroute A25 (£400m) and A1 in Germany (£650m).
FCC Construcción S.A. (Spain)
With more than 100 years of history, FCC Construcción is the infrastructure branch of FCC Group, which in terms of turnover and profitability is one of Europe’s largest infrastructure, environmental and water services groups.
In 2012, FCC Construcción’s turnover was €6,148 million, 68% of which came from international markets, mainly Europe and America.
This part of the group employs 28,000 professionals and its activities cover all areas of civil engineering (roads, railways, airports, water works, marine work) and building (residential and non-residential). The company has proven experience in developing concession projects and also has a group of subsidiary companies dedicated to the industrial sector.
Recent PPP projects include Eix Transversal shadow-toll motorway, and Cartagena-Vera toll motorway in Spain, the Transmontana motorway in Portugal, Enniskillen Hospital in Northern Ireland and San José – San Ramón motorway in Costa Rica. FCC has procured more than 2,000 kilometres of roadway under PPP contracts.
In the last 15 years, FCC has built over one million square metres of bridge – of all types – using modern construction methods.
FCC is currently building major bridges such as the Centennial Bridge in Panama, the Kafjord bridge in Norway, the El Corgo viaduct in Portugal (230 metres high), and the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Los Angeles (US).
FCC Group operates in the UK through its affiliate companies FCC Co, Alpine, WRG, Globalvia and FOCSA in a wide range of activities including waste disposal, management of landfills, recycling, biomass and renewable energies.
FCC Construction applies innovation and the cutting-edge technology in its projects. At the same time, it is committed to ensuring that its projects promote sustainability and social benefits.
FCC employs more than 2,500 people in the UK and participates in 390 social projects.
BBGI
BBGI S.A. (BBGI) is a global infrastructure company and invests in Public Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure assets. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
BBGI offers its shareholders a global, geographically diversified portfolio of 39 high quality PPP infrastructure assets in the availability-based road and social infrastructure sectors in the UK, Continental Europe, Canada and Australia and the USA.
The contractors are:
FCC Construcción
Kier Infrastructure & Overseas Limited (England)
Kier Construction’s infrastructure and overseas business is principally responsible for the civil engineering activities of the Kier Group, in both the UK and overseas, and has successfully undertaken mainly larger projects.
It is a major civil engineering contractor, with an office in Speke, within 15 miles of the project, and undertakes works in the highways and rail sectors. Kier also has extensive experience in PPP/PFI projects worldwide.
Kier Construction is part of Kier Group plc, a leading construction, services and property group specialising in building and civil engineering, support services, commercial property development and structured property financing and private affordable housing.
The Group employs over 10,000 people worldwide and has annual revenue of £2.1bn.
Samsung C&T Corporation (Korea)
Established in 1938, Samsung Construction &Trading (C&T) is the original element of the Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest conglomerate with interests in construction, electronics, chemicals, finance, and numerous other sectors.
Samsung C&T is best known for its advanced technological expertise and experience in building, civil infrastructure, plant and housing/development.
It now has more than 9,000 employees in 133 offices, based in 50 countries.
Most notably, the company has been responsible for the construction of several of the world’s tallest buildings – including Malaysia’s Petronas Twin Towers, and the Burj Khalifa in the UAE.
Samsung C&T has established a strong reputation in the field of complex infrastructure and in 2000 completed the construction of the Youngjong Grand Bridge, the world’s first three-dimensional self-anchored suspension bridge, followed by the completion of the Incheon Grand Bridge, which is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.
The toll operator is:
Emovis (France)
Emovis*, which is a subsidiary of Abertis, is an international motorway operator and a world-leader in free-flow tolling.
It is the leading service delivery and technology arm of Abertis for all electronic tolling and smart mobility solutions.
It has over 600 employees across 7 countries and manages 8,300 kilometres of roads around the world.
Emovis specialises in multi-lane free-flow projects – including the delivery of toll solutions and operations such as the Dartford Crossing, the M50 in Dublin, Slovakia National Truck Tolling, The Port Mann and Golden Ears Bridges in Vancouver.
*Before April 2016 Emovis was called Sanef.
The new name is not a change of tolling operator, it is just a change of name for the tolling operator that was appointed to the project in 2013 as part of the Merseylink consortium.
