August 2014

PUBLIC LAW

PORTUGUESE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION CONCESSION NOTICE


SUB-CONCESSION OF OPORTO’S PUBLIC SERVICE TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS

On 8 August 2014, the public owned company Metro do Porto, S.A. (“Metro do Porto”) published a contract notice for the sub-concession of two major public transport systems: (i) Metro do Porto itself and (ii) STCP – Sociedade de Transportes Coletivos do Porto, S.A. (“STCP”). The notice was also published on the Official Journal of the European Union.

According to the notice, the international public tender announced will give way to two sub-concession contracts:

  1. Metro Porto sub-concession: regarding the operation, exploration and maintenance of Metro do Porto’s transport system, which includes the public service subway network of Oporto’s metropolitan area, alternative transport activities and the exploration of the respective commercial and advertisement spaces; and
  2. STCP sub-concession: regarding the operation, exploration and maintenance of STCP’s transport system, which includes the public bus services of the Oporto city area, the public tram service of Oporto’s metropolitan area and the exploration of the respective advertisement spaces.

1. RELEVANT FINANCIAL DATA OF THE TRANSPORT COMPANIES

1.1. Metro do Porto

Metro do Porto is a publicly owned company which currently operates six subway lines expanding over seven municipalities in Oporto’s metropolitan area.

Metro do Porto owns a fleet of 102 carriages, has 313 employees and in 2013 provided transport services to circa 55,900,00 passengers.

We provide below (i) a table with the company’s most relevant key performance indicators; and (ii) a table with the company’s adjusted EBIDTA (excluding non-recurring effects):

Metro do Porto KPIs

KPIs

2010

2011

2012

2013

Transported passengers (millions)

53.5

55.7

54.5

55.9

Passengers-Km (millions)

267

291

282

286

Occupancy rate (%)

18.2

18.9

17.4

17.8

Fleet (total vehicles)

102

102

102

102

Employees

313

313

313

313

Metro do Porto EBITDA

EBITDA (EUR)

2010

2011

2012

2013

Sales and services rendered (without IFRIC)

31,683,625

37,855,975

38,690,000

40,088,997

Compensatory allowances (paid by the Portuguese State)

11,860,442

11,860,442

11,535,895

11,535,895

Other subsidies

4,675,164

6,496,419

7,151,817

6,205,093

Revenues

48,219,231

56,212,837

57,377,712

57,829,985

Cost of goods sold and services rendered

0

0

0

0

Supplies and services (without IFRIC)

56,996,495

54,334,742

47,137,967

46,426,935

Expenses with employees

5,812,558

4,798,057

4,249,319

4,880,355

Operating Expenses

62,809,053

59,132,799

51,387,286

51,307,290

EBITDA

14,589,822

2,919,962

5,990,426

6,522,694

1.2. STCP

STCP is a publicly owned company which operates in Oporto city and in Oporto’s adjacent municipalities, such as Matosinhos, Maia, Valongo, Gondomar and Vila Nova de Gaia.

STCP owns a fleet of 475 vehicles, currently has 1,231 employees and in 2013 provided transport services to circa 78,600,000 passengers.

We provide below (i) a table with the company’s most relevant key performance indicators; and (ii) a table with the company’s adjusted EBIDTA (excluding non-recurring effects):

STCP KPIs

KPIs

2010

2011

2012

2013

Transported passengers (millions)

95.9

95.3

85.1

78.6

Passengers-Km (millions)

333

331

308

286

Occupancy rate (%)

14.5

14.8

14.8

13.9

Fleet (total vehicles)

489

468

475

475

Employees

1,496

1,318

1,262

1,231

STCP EBITDA

EBITDA (EUR)

2010

2011

2012

2013

Sales and services rendered (without IFRIC)

49,396,139

50,782,613

50,067,992

46,897,066

Compensatory allowances (paid by the Portuguese State)

19,930,283

18,868,927

12,150,000

10,211,321

Revenues

69,276,422

69,651,540

62,217,992

57,108,387

Cost of goods sold and services rendered

1,421,071

1,545,249

1,300,000

1,381,136

Supplies and services (without IFRIC)

32,611,139

32,622,195

31,198,845

25,158,507

Expenses with employees

39,045,130

34,061,630

29,803,198

32,291,563

Operating Expenses

73,077,340

68,229,073

62,302,043

58,831,206

EBITDA

3,800,918

1,422,467

84,051

1,722,819

 back to top

2. THE INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC TENDER

The recently announced international public tender for the sub-concession of the activities of the two transport companies was preceded by a public consultation, which took place in February 2014, to all interested market stakeholders so that they could issue their opinions on the concession models under consideration. 16 interest market stakeholders participated in this public consultation.

The sub-concessions will have a term of 96 months, starting from the date of the execution of the contract.

The interested parties must present their proposals by 29 September 2014 and if they do so, they will have the obligation to maintain them for 180 days.

The price will constitute the sole award criterion of this international public tender.

3. OUR TEAM

Uría Menéndez - Proença de Carvalho plays a significant role as legal advisor in the main areas of Public Law, notably: public tenders, public contracts in general, PPP projects, litigation and conflict mediation, energy and environment, and regulatory matters. We have a team of lawyers who have extensive experience in working with the three main client groups: public entities, private promoters and banking syndicates. Our broad experience in Public Law matters enables us to provide advice on any public project or Government based transaction.

One of our main focuses is on public infrastructure projects (notably motorways, railways, electricity plants, ports, dams, water treatment plants and water channelling, hospitals and large-scale urbanisation projects), public services projects (namely land, air and water transport, water and energy supply, water and waste treatment) and projects related to the acquisition of goods by public authorities.

We provide legal advice at every stage of a project, from the pre-contractual phase to the execution of the agreements, including judicial proceedings. Our lawyers’ expertise, which is widely acknowledged by the main operators in Portugal, has led to our Public Law department participating in the majority of the high profile public project transactions in the Portuguese market, and in several of the most important privatisation and concession procedures conducted in recent years in Portugal.

Our wide experience guarantees a cross-sector perspective and allows us to provide our clients with integrated legal solutions best suited to their needs, which contributes towards the success of the projects on which we advise.

4. CONTACT

For any clarification or additional information, please do not hesitate to contact:

Bernardo Diniz de Ayala

Public Law department
Partner
Tel: +351210308613
e-mail: bernardo.ayala@uria.com

Afonso Choon

Public Law department
Associate
Tel: +351213515377
e-mail: afonso.choon@uria.com

 back to top

The information contained in this Newsletter is of a general nature and does not constitute legal advice