Also, from boots on the ground in North Texas, parts of NTTA-proposed systems were won by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte in the early 2000s. Parts have been built, but it didn't complete by its 2015 target date. https://journalrecord.com/2004/12/spanish-firm-to-build-6-bi...
https://www.ntta.org/whatwedo/fin_invest_info/Documents/2022...
It's owned by Spanish consortium, and was sold by a previous conservative gov't for a fraction of what it's made in profit, since.
They sold a 75 year contract to metered spaces for 1.5 billion dollars in 2008. Currently there have been 2 billion in revenue, and there are 60 years remaining on the contract...
So about 1 billion USD annual revenue per year. 99 year lease.
The government of the time sold the lease rights for $3.1 billion CAD. So about $5 billion in today's dollars, about $3.7B USD.
>> TORONTO, Feb. 16, 2023 /CNW/ - 407 International Inc. (the "Company") announced today revenues of $1,327.2 million for 2022, compared to $1,023.1 million for 2021. The Company reported net income of $435.3 million for 2022, compared to a net income of $212.4 million for 2021. Earnings before interest and other, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"1) totalled $1,138.8 million for 2022 compared to $859.0 million for 2021.
Per https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculat..., $3.1 billion in 1999 is about $5.26 billion today. So, in 2022 the consortium had an income of about 8.5% of what they paid. Not nearly as good as your numbers imply. The consortium is making back what they paid every 10-15 years, so over a 99 year lease they'll make something like a 600%-700% return on their investment. That's not great. And they shoulder the risk of collapsing toll revenue.
It's actually majority owned by CPP( Canadian Pension Plan).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_407#:~:text=As...
> Indirectly owned subsidiaries of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board 50.01% Cintra Global S.E., a subsidiary of Spanish firm Ferrovial S.A. 43.23%
Cintra Global S.E., a subsidiary of Spanish firm Ferrovial S.A. 43.23%[36][37]
SNC Lavalin 6.76%[36]
But the original lease sale was far more skewed:
"The Ontario corporation, known as 407 International Inc., was initially owned by the Spanish multinational Ferrovial through their subsidiary Cintra Infraestructuras (61.3%), the Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin (22.6%) as well as CDP Capital (16.1%)"
Ontario don't care, it seems. Canadians just bend over and take it.
Around here (Flamborough, outside of Hamilton/Burlington) there's a whole layer of people who rant and rant and rant about being amalgamated into Hamilton.
Except those same people who rant about it, are almost all conservative voters. And it was the conservatives under Harris who forced that amalgamation.
It boggles the mind, the short memory people have.
In the early/mid-90s recessionary period when this was inked, the justification was excessively high debts incurred by the previous provincial gov't. Austerity was the name of the game, and decisions like these were seen as "wise fiscal management." Those debts now look minor compared to the present, and we'd have been in much better fiscal situation keeping the toll road public and letting that money flow back.
It doesn't usually make sense to buy something in order to break even.
Duh.
I question whether you were, though.