Long-term infrastructure investment company HICL has reached an agreement to buy a 13.8% interest in France’s A63 motorway project from Colas Sud Ouest and Spie Batignolles.

The company will pay up to €87m (£66m) to these vendors upon completion of the acquisition.

Expected to be completed in early next year, the deal is subjected to a number of conditions.

"The project is a 40-year toll-road concession with the scope to finance, design, build, maintain and operate a 104km route."

The project is a 40-year toll-road concession with the scope to finance, design, build, maintain and operate a 104km route.

The route is a part of the A63 highway that runs between Salles and Saint-Geours-de-Maremne, in south-west France.

The first phase of the project was delivered in April 2013, five months before the schedule, while the second phase was completed in November 2013, seven months before the plan.

Last June, the project’s senior debt was refinanced with long-term debt.

Connecting Bordeaux and the Spanish border through Bayonne, the project is part of the Atlantic Corridor, which is one of the Core Network Corridors identified by the European Commission as part of the Trans-European Networks transportation policy initiative (TEN-T).

This project represents the firm’s fourth investment in France and the first in a demand-based project, where revenues are dependent on usage volumes and toll pricing.

As completion of the acquisition is not due before early next year, the HICL Group’s net funding requirement would remain unchanged approximately £7m.