MILAN (Reuters) – Having bought its motorway enterprise in Italy, Atlantia is investing in sensible traffic know-how to assist drive improvement of cleaner transport and open up new markets such because the United States.
Controlled by the Benetton household, the infrastructure group is looking for to lastly put behind it a dispute triggered by the lethal collapse of a motorway bridge operated by its Autostrade per l’Italia enterprise in Genoa in 2018.
It bought that enterprise and has began utilizing a number of the 8 billion euro ($8.7 billion) proceeds anticipated within the coming months from the transaction to broaden into sensible traffic tech.
In January, it purchased Siemens Yunex Traffic division for 950 million euros – a transfer that made it the one main motorway operator in Europe with a wise traffic enterprise.
Now, as first mover, it has the chance to broaden this enterprise and consolidate a fragmented market.
The firm, which can replace buyers about its future technique on March 11, sees the traffic know-how enterprise as vital in its personal proper but in addition complementary to its current operations.
“The worth of any freeway and airport enterprise with out know-how is destined to fall. In 5-6 years this might turn into one other core enterprise of Atlantia,” a supply aware of the matter stated.
Atlantia’s principal operations are motorways, airports and digital toll fee firm Telepass. The group controls Spanish freeway operator Abertis, runs a sequence of airports in Italy and France, has a 15% stake in channel tunnel operator Getlink and owns 51% of Telepass.
The supply stated the group was scouting bolt-on know-how alternatives like particular objective acquisition firms (SPACs) owned by non-public fairness or spun-off ancillary companies developed internally by teams like BMW and Bosch.
Yunex will enable Atlantia to perceive rapidly the market through which it competes with round 300 different sensible tech teams, the supply stated.
“Carmakers might be attention-grabbing companions given the clear synergies,” the supply stated.
PLUGGED IN
Atlantia’s drive comes as governments world wide look to excessive tech to lower car congestion and air pollution to make large cities extra habitable and companies extra environment friendly.
Plugging in traffic knowledge companies and connecting up autos will enable automobiles to map their very own routes to lower journey occasions and carbon emissions and provides metropolis directors extra bang for the buck from current infrastructure.
Under strain from the European Union to lower emissions, many European cities will want know-how to optimise traffic flows.
“The finest route shall be chosen by the automobile and never Google Maps – whether or not that’s with or with out a driver,” the supply stated.
Yunex, which operates in additional than 500 cities worldwide, has developed a raft of companies together with a system the place traffic lights, cameras and sensors relay knowledge to a management room that crunches the information to cut back congestion and accidents.
In the western German metropolis of Wiesbaden, a Yunex system launched in November with authorities funding offers drivers route and pace suggestions on digital roadside shows managed by a traffic administration centre.
The Wiesbaden management room can handle flows to ease traffic jams on main roads or give precedence to public transport buses, ambulances and fireplace engines.
EYES ON AMERICA
Atlantia stated in January it anticipated the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) market to develop at a median fee of 10% a 12 months to 2026 underpinned by a worldwide shift in the direction of extra sustainable transport.
It is banking on the transfer to open up new enterprise strains inside cities throughout the globe together with Latin America, the place its Abertis subsidiary has a powerful presence though outdoors metropolitan areas, and the United States.
ITS know-how shall be wanted to arrange tolling methods and to analyse and handle traffic volumes.
“The U.S. market is especially attention-grabbing given the demand for innovation know-how to map connections between airports and highways,” a second supply stated.
Yunex is already working in U.S. cities like Boston and counties like Miami-Dade in Florida the place it offers its traffic administration system.
The second supply stated the enterprise might supply double the returns of Atlantia’s conventional motorway concession enterprise.
In Europe, Atlantia plans to replicate Yunex operations in its principal geographic markets – Italy, France and Spain – by providing companies to monitor city traffic and handle freeway intersections and tunnels each on its community and on different purchasers’ infrastructures.
Getlink might turn into considered one of Yunex’s new prospects, a 3rd supply stated. Two of the sources added that Atlantia, which has not made any public assertion on its intentions, was weighing choices to improve its stake within the channel tunnel operator.
In January, Atlantia stated it anticipated gross sales at Yunex to attain 1 billion euros within the subsequent 5 years from 635 million euros final 12 months.
The shift to tech, which incorporates Atlantia’s latest funding in electrical air taxi maker Volocopter, might additionally cut back the regulatory danger related to the group’s portfolio of concession-based companies.
“Following the bridge catastrophe, it’s now clear to everybody that the regulatory danger is tough to assess and handle,” one other supply aware of the group’s technique stated.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini and Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Keith Weir and Jane Merriman)
