Invepar (Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura S.A.), a company which is jointly controlled by the Previ, Funcef and Petros pension funds, with minority participation from building company OAS, has the bullet train project as one of its major projects for this year, as well as seeking new business in road concessions, urban transport and airports. Invepar, which owns the Rio de Janeiro Underground System, had a turnover of US$ 542.17 million in 2010 and expects to make between 15% and 20% more in 2011 and then to open their capital on the Stock Exchange in 2012 or 2013.
According to Gustavo Rocha, the Executive President of the Company, the tender process for the Bullet Train will probably take place in April. The date has been rescheduled by the National Land Transport Agency (Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres – ANTT), which has launched the Invitation to Bid. The project is being studied and analyzed, so that the decision may be made at the right moment. However, the idea is that the pension funds and OAS should enter the business through Invepar. The direction (of the shareholders) is that Invepar should enter this development after the tender, joining forces with the winning group. This is allowed by the Invitation to Bid, provided the company has not participated in another group during the tender.
Last year was a period of restructuring and consolidation of Invepar, which invested a total of US$ 542.17 million in six operating companies under their umbrella, namely the Yellow Line of the São Paulo Underground (Linha Amarela), Raposo Tavares, the Rio de Janeiro Underground System, a 25% stake in CRT, Bahia Norte and North Coast. Invepar has the structure of a holding company. The year 2010 was the first year in which the Raposo Tavares Motorway was working with the tolls working. We have also made operational changes in the Rio Underground system with the increase in capacity from 560 thousand passengers per day to 660 thousand pax/day. In addition, we have managed to bring another two companies into the holding. We won the tender for Bahia Norte and we have also included the 25% stake on CRT, which formerly belonged to OAS.
For 2011, the programmed volume of investments is US$ 361.45 million, with the volume for the Underground alone being US$ 150.60 million. At the end of the year, the 114 coaches ordered from China will start to arrive. Currently the Rio’s metro has 182 coaches. And with the Chinese coaches the fleet will increase by 63% in 2012. The Yellow Line will get US$ 60.24 million, while US$ 120.48 million will go to the Raposo Tavares, and between US$ 60.24 million and US$ 90.36 million will be spent on Bahia Norte. This road was auctioned off in May by the Bahian Government. This is the BA-093 road that connects the main industrial areas such as Camaçari to Salvador Airport, and also the Port of Aratu to the Industrial Estate of Aratu. The network has a total of 125 kilometers.
Invepar is also eyeing new Road concessions such as the third lot of concessions in upstate São Paulo. The company also intends to start operating in the Northeast, in urban road projects. In Rio de Janeiro, for example, the company is already working on a public project of the City Hall, which is the Transolímpica Highway, built for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and which will connect the districts of Barra da Tijuca and Deodoro. In Pernambuco, the company is bidding for a project of the road complex in the port of Suape.
The bullet train project is outside the budget for this year. Depending on the investment and also on our participation in the winning consortium, it could be necessary to obtain resources from the shareholders so that we may enter the Bullet Train Project, said Mr. Rocha. He stresses that, on the company agenda, there are plans for capitalization on the capital markets, which could happen in 2012 if conditions are favorable. We are currently in the Bovespa Mais Stock Exchange but have not as get had our shares traded on the Stock Exchange, although after Bovespa Mais our next step is IPO (opening of capital).
The share stock of Invepar shows Previ as the main shareholder with 40%. Funcef and Patros have 20% and 30% respectively, and OAS has 19.40%.
Despite the controversy it has aroused because of its cost first appraised at US$ 19.8 billion, the bullet train project has the support of Mr. Rocha. It is impossible to look at the axis comprising Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Campinas and São José dos Campos without a system of rail transport of high speed and excellent quality. From the country’s standpoint, as a solution of transport and mobility, I think it is a project that could get it right. Nowadays, at a distance of less than 500 kilometers, there is only one bullet train project connecting two cities as important as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, which is the link between Tokyo and Kyoto, in Japan.
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