ConnectEast

ConnectEast is an Australian road infrastructure company associated with EastLink, a 39-kilometre tolled motorway in Melbourne, Victoria. The company was established to deliver the EastLink public-private partnership and was responsible for the road's financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance. EastLink connects the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne's eastern suburbs with the Frankston Freeway in the south-east, creating a major north-south transport corridor through the city's outer eastern and south-eastern metropolitan areas. In 2004, ConnectEast won a tender valued at approximately A$2.5 billion for the EastLink concession. The project involved a long-term arrangement under which the company and its project partners would fund and deliver the road and then operate it as a toll facility. Construction was undertaken by a joint venture between Thiess and John Holland. The road was completed five months ahead of schedule and opened to traffic in June 2008. The EastLink project includes motorway infrastructure, interchanges and associated transport facilities linking existing freeways and arterial roads. Its commercial model depends on toll revenue generated by road users during the concession period. ConnectEast was previously represented on the Australian Securities Exchange through the ConnectEast Group, giving public-market investors exposure to the road concession and its operating performance. In late 2011, ConnectEast was acquired for approximately A$2.2 billion by Horizon Roads, a consortium of institutional investors from Australia and overseas. The consortium included the United Kingdom's Universities Superannuation Scheme, APG of the Netherlands, South Korea's National Pension Service, China's Leader Investment Corp, Denmark's Arbejdsmarkedets Tillægspension, the United States' Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-related investment interests, and the Korean Teachers Credit Union. Following the transaction, ConnectEast was delisted from the ASX. ConnectEast's principal business is not road freight or trucking. It is the ownership and operation of a toll-road concession and the management of the associated transport infrastructure. The concession is scheduled to expire in 2043. Publicly available reference material provides limited information about the company's executive team, standalone consumer branding and activities outside the EastLink concession.

ConnectEast was created to deliver a major road infrastructure concession in Melbourne, Victoria. Its core project was EastLink, a 39-kilometre toll road connecting the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne's east with the Frankston Freeway in the south-east. The route was intended to improve connections across Melbourne's outer eastern and south-eastern suburbs and provide an alternative high-capacity corridor to existing arterial roads. In 2004, ConnectEast won the tender to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain EastLink. The agreement placed the company at the centre of a public-private infrastructure model: rather than being only a construction contractor, ConnectEast was responsible for arranging the project's financing and managing the long-term operating concession. Construction was carried out by a joint venture between Thiess and John Holland. The road was completed five months earlier than scheduled and opened in June 2008. EastLink became ConnectEast's defining asset and operating platform. The company managed the toll-road concession and the infrastructure required to support road users, including the motorway, interchanges and related operating systems. Its revenues were linked to toll-road use over the concession term rather than to the sale of physical products. This makes ConnectEast better classified as a transport-infrastructure operator than as a trucking or road-freight business. The company was formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as the ConnectEast Group. Its public listing provided a market structure for an infrastructure business whose value was tied to a long-term concession and expected toll-road cash flows. In late 2011, Horizon Roads acquired ConnectEast for approximately A$2.2 billion. Horizon Roads was formed by a group of institutional investors from several countries, including pension and investment organisations from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Korea, China, Denmark and the United States. Following the acquisition, ConnectEast was removed from the ASX and became privately held through the consortium structure. The EastLink concession is scheduled to continue until 2043. Available reference material does not provide a detailed account of later corporate restructurings, named executives, separate product brands or major controversies. The company's public identity remains closely tied to EastLink and to the long-term management of Melbourne's toll-road infrastructure.

• 2011

  Acquisition and ASX delisting

  [1]ConnectEasten.wikipedia.org

  Horizon Roads acquired ConnectEast for approximately A$2.2 billion, after which the company was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange.

• 2008

  EastLink opens

  [1]ConnectEasten.wikipedia.org

  EastLink opened in June 2008 after being completed five months ahead of schedule by a Thiess and John Holland construction joint venture.

• 2004

  EastLink concession awarded

  [1]ConnectEasten.wikipedia.org

  ConnectEast won the approximately A$2.5 billion tender to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the 39-kilometre EastLink toll road.

• Scheduled concession expiry

  [1]ConnectEasten.wikipedia.org

  The EastLink concession is scheduled to expire in 2043.

A long-term private-sector road infrastructure operator focused on the financing, delivery and operation of a major Melbourne tolled motorway concession.

• Toll road · 2008

  EastLink

  EastLink is a 39-kilometre tolled motorway in Melbourne, Victoria. It links the Eastern Freeway in the city's eastern suburbs with the Frankston Freeway in the south-east. ConnectEast was responsible for the project's financing, design, construction coordination, operation and maintenance under a long-term concession. The motorway opened in June 2008 and is the company's principal infrastructure asset and public-facing offering.

• 2011

  Sale to Horizon RoadsM&A

  Background

  ConnectEast operated a long-term toll-road concession and had previously been publicly traded through the ConnectEast Group.

  Action taken

  Horizon Roads, a consortium of eight institutional investors, acquired ConnectEast for approximately A$2.2 billion and took the company private.

  Aftermath

  ConnectEast was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange and continued as a privately held toll-road infrastructure business.

  Acquisition value. Approximately A$2.2 billion (Late 2011)

  Source

• 2004

  Pursuit of the EastLink public-private partnershipStrategy

  Background

  Melbourne required a major road connection between the Eastern Freeway and the Frankston Freeway. ConnectEast pursued a long-term concession model covering project finance, delivery and operation.

  Action taken

  ConnectEast won the tender and accepted responsibility for financing, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining the 39-kilometre toll road.

  Aftermath

  The project became the company's central business and opened to traffic in 2008.

  Tender value. Approximately A$2.5 billion (2004)

  Source

1. 1ConnectEasten.wikipedia.org