Macquarie appears to do this a lot
Other toll road deals soured
The American Roads deal was just one of several Macquarie-linked toll road transactions that banked on what later appeared to be overly optimistic traffic and revenue projections, which were provided by Maunsell, according to court documents, government records and news reports.
• Macquarie and its partners bid $3.8 billion in 2006 to manage the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years, a staggering amount that topped the next-highest bid by $1 billion. Macquarie’s bid was justified by projections from Maunsell, which were more optimistic than those from other consultants, Syncora’s lawsuit alleges. The toll road went bankrupt in 2014.
• Macquarie subsidiaries were heavily involved in the construction and operation of the $847 million South Bay Expressway in San Diego. The road opened in November 2007 but filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after it failed to meet traffic projections, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Government records show that Maunsell was an adviser on the project.
• Macquarie and its partners spent $1.8 billion to buy the rights to operate the Chicago Skyway in 2004, more than twice the $770 million “cover bid,” Syncora alleged in its suit. The amount, the insurer claimed, was backed by “optimistic” Maunsell projections. The tolls are so expensive now that Chicago’s WMAQ-TV (NBC-Channel 5) estimated driving the toll road every weekday would cost Chicago commuters $2,000 a year.
