The disputes emerged from the construction contract for the Rio Magdalena Highway (Colombia) and Red Vial 4 (Peru). Payments will be done over the coming years, until 2030.
OHLA, a Spanish construction company, revealed that it has agreed to pay 74.5 million euros (US$81.4 million) to IFM over two contractual obligations that its former concessionaire (now called Aleatica) had when it was sold to IFM in 2018.
The disputes emerged from the construction contract for the Rio Magdalena Highway in Colombia, and the Red Vial 4 in Peru. Payments will be made over the coming years, until 2030.
Also in South America, OHLA is currently facing litigation in Chile, where it claims 147.2 million euros (US$ 160.9 million) for the Chacrillas reservoir, the Gustavo Fricke Hospital, and Mantos Blancos mining project.
M-12 LITIGATION IN SPAIN
Separately, in Spain, creditor funds Bothar and Kommunalkredit have filed an appeal before the Supreme Court against the ruling in 2023 rejected their up to 283 million euros (US$309 million) claim from OHLA for alleged debt obligations on the M-12 highway, which connects Madrid and the Barajas airport.
The construction company has detailed in its annual accounts that the creditors announced the appeal on December 23. Out of the total requested by the creditors, 212.4 million euros (US$ 232.2 million) corresponds to compensation for damages and 70.9 million (US$ 77.5 million) to interests on late payments. The appeal is still pending admission
This is one of the nine highways that went bankrupt due to the 2008 financial crisis and are being managed by the government since. Most of the highways are located in the Community of Madrid. The Spanish government has already spent more than 1 billion euros (US$1.09 billion) in said rescue.
Creditors have already appealed to the Supreme Court for other unfavorable rulings in first instance, such as the one relating to the R-2 highway, agains ACS, Acciona, Abertis and Globalvia for 472 million euros (US$516 million).
Regarding the M-12, OHLA also has another open front, in this case with the government owing to the latter's calculation of payments owed to the company for their investments in the highway. In 2021 the government estimated them at 46.5 million euros (US$50.8 million), but OHLA believes that is insufficient.
For this reason, the company has announced that it will reactivate its lawsuit to the government during the first four months of 2024. It will request a total of 70 million euros (US$ 76.5 million) plus interest and costs for forced expropriations that may be considered recoverable to the extent that the damage is not attributable to the concessionaire, as well as other concepts that are being analyzed by experts.
That said, the company, controlled by the Amodio brothers (from Mexico) admits in its accounts that it is "unlikely" to recover the money. In any case, in 2021 it already registered a write off for 18.6 million euros (US$ 20.3 million) for this concept.
