CVC DIF agrees sale of American Roads to John Laing

• American Roads owns and operates a portfolio of four tolled transportation facilities, including three bridges in Alabama and the American-side concession of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, which serves as an international border crossing between Canada and the United States.
• Across its facilities, American Roads serves approximately seven million trips annually.
• During CVC DIF’s ownership, American Roads has been transformed into a resilient, well-positioned platform of essential transport assets through active asset management, operational optimisation, and strategic capital structuring.
• This exit underscores CVC DIF’s clear focus on returning capital to investors, supported by the expertise of its dedicated Divestments team. 

CVC DIF, the infrastructure strategy of leading global private markets manager CVC, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement to sell American Roads to John Laing Group (“John Laing”), a leading international investor and active manager of core infrastructure assets. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, including required antitrust clearances in the United States.

American Roads is a transportation infrastructure platform that owns and operates a portfolio of toll road infrastructure in the United States. The portfolio includes three bridges in Alabama with perpetual operating rights, as well as the concession-lease for the American-side of the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel, a strategically important cross-border tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan, USA with Windsor, Canada. These assets provide critical connectivity for commuters and regional businesses, and serve approximately seven million trips annually.

Since acquiring American Roads in 2018 via its DIF Infrastructure V fund, CVC DIF has executed a clearly defined value creation plan focused on strengthening the platform’s operational resilience and positioning the assets for sustainable long-term growth. This has included close engagement with management to optimise operating practices across the portfolio and implement a capital structure designed to support ongoing investment and operational flexibility. CVC DIF’s ownership period also included the successful management of the platform through the Covid-19 pandemic, maintaining service availability during major operational disruption and a sharp decline in passenger travel, while positioning the business for recovery. CVC DIF also supported the development of an experienced, top-tier management team, reflecting the platform’s long-term institutional ownership profile.

Andrew Freeman, Partner and Head of Divestments at CVC DIF, commented: “American Roads is a strong illustration of CVC DIF’s active ownership and long-term approach to infrastructure investing. Through close partnership with management, disciplined operational optimisation, and thoughtful capital structuring, we have developed a resilient and well-governed platform of essential transport assets. We are pleased to have agreed this transaction with John Laing, a highly experienced infrastructure investor, and believe American Roads is very well positioned to continue delivering critical connectivity in its next phase of ownership.”

The sale of American Roads continues CVC DIF’s programme of disciplined portfolio rotation, reflecting sustained investor demand for high-quality, long-duration infrastructure assets underpinned by stable fundamentals.

CVC DIF was advised on the transaction by Macquarie Capital (Financial), A&O Sherman (Legal), KPMG (FDD and Tax), Infrata (Technical, ESG and Traffic) and Marsh (Insurance).