A United States toll road company part-owned by Macquarie Group will file for bankruptcy on Monday, after collapsing under the weight of $US5.8 billion ($6.5 billion) in debt.
A lending syndicate of banks and hedge funds have agreed to allow the joint owners of the Indiana toll road to enter a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure the debt or sell the distressed asset.
Traffic volumes on the road have failed to live up to forecasts since Macquarie and Spanish infrastructure company Cintra paid the state of Indiana $US3.8 billion in 2006 for the 253-kilometre toll road linking Chicago to west of Ohio.
The lingering effects of the 2008 recession and opening of a nearby competitor freeway hurt the toll road's revenues.
Macquarie Infrastructure Partners owns 25 per cent of the project and Macquarie Atlas Roads, spun out of Macquarie Group in a 2010 demerger, controls 25 per cent.
Cintra, the road's operator, holds 50 per cent of the equity. It is a subsidiary of Spanish multinational company Ferrovial.
The toll road entity, ITR Concession Company, said in a statement on Friday it had received support from its lenders and equity sponsors for a "pre-packaged" restructuring plan.
"The plan will permit ITRCC to either sell its assets through a competitive process or recapitalise ITRCC by reducing its debt," it said.
"ITRCC has chosen to take this action to restructure its debt, while maintaining its commitment to providing high-quality maintenance and road operations as well as high levels of customer service along this critical transportation corridor."
The toll road lease, which still has almost 70 years to run, will be put up for sale to gauge interest from potential buyers.
The company emphasised to locals that the bankruptcy filing would not affect drivers or employees and the road would continue to operate without disruption.
The then governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, said in 2011 that Macquarie and Cintra "overpaid" for the $US3.8 billion road and the state had "hit the jackpot" with its 75-year lease in 2006.
Most of the major banks who originally lent money to the infrastructure consortium cut their losses by selling their debt on the secondary market.
Hedge funds and distressed debt investors, such as Strategic Value Partners and King Street Capital Management, hold about 80 per cent of the original $US5.8 billion in loans, a source involved in the restructure negotiations said.
