This Friday, CriteriaCaixa, the investment arm of the La Caixa Foundation, announced the acquisition of 9.4% of the share capital of ACS, the Spanish construction company whose largest shareholder is Florentino Pérez, who also serves as president of Real Madrid. Beyond the holding group’s strategy to build a portfolio of invested companies, this move signals once again growing interest from major institutional investors in the infrastructure sector.
Fernando González Cuervo, partner responsible for the Construction and Infrastructure sector at EY, summarizes the benefits of investing in infrastructure. “Infrastructure investments resemble public debt in many ways. They involve long concession contracts, linked to inflation and with moderate but steady returns. This setup allows financing to be planned with clarity, and there is solid appetite in banking markets and bond markets. They are an ideal vehicle for diversification while delivering returns slightly higher than government bonds.”
The sector is on an upward trajectory. “Global investment needs in infrastructure are enormous and have been amplified by strong societal commitments to environmental issues and accelerated digitalization. This creates a need to upgrade traditional infrastructure like roads, hospitals, and ports, while also supporting the large investments tied to energy transition (renewables and energy efficiency) and digitalization. Spanish infrastructure groups are clearly prioritizing concession-based activity as a driver of growth and value in a global context where major infrastructure development hinges on public-private partnership models that enable the needed investments,” explains Ovidio Turrado, partner at KPMG Funding and head of the Infrastructure Sector at KPMG Spain.
The difference between investing in an infrastructure vehicle and investing in companies like ACS, Ferrovial, or Acciona lies in the risk-return profile. There are two investor archetypes in this market: first, the builder who develops the asset and operates it for the initial years before selling it; second, the investor who remains the owner for the concession period. The former bears more risk and typically profits from the sale relative to the invested capital, while the latter accepts a somewhat lower return in exchange for predictable income. Most major Spanish listed groups cover both stages, though many also participate in the early contract-award phase.
When investing, Ovidio Turrado notes the virtues of each model: “Investing in a listed company provides liquidity and a clear market valuation reference. A diversified business group reduces risk, and vertical integration across the value chain—investing in the concession asset, designing, building, and operating—creates significant synergies, leading to greater value across the asset’s life cycle. Conversely, allocating capital to companies that solely own concession assets allows selecting specific asset types and risk profiles, which is essential for many investors and funds with tightly defined objectives.”
Why did Criteria enter ACS? Juan José Fernández-Figares, an analyst at Link Securities, says Criteria acts as a holding company designed to invest in solid firms that provide stability in ownership. Diego Morín, an analyst at IG, sees this as a reflection of ACS’s solid fundamentals and diversified business across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, which bodes well for future growth. Javier Cabrera, a financial analyst at XTB, highlights the North American expansion, which accounts for a large share of ACS’s revenue, as a positive signal for the sector.
A key highlight of the discussions is ACS’s latest strategic plan presented recently. The program envisions a 9% annual revenue increase through 2026, aims to reach 1.0 billion euros in earnings within two years, and contemplates distributing up to 2.0 billion euros to shareholders. Fernando González Cuervo believes that ACS, in its recent investor-focused day, showcased the breadth of its industries and readiness to meet future infrastructure needs. “The more information the market gets, the more investors focus on the company,” adds the EY partner.
Another motive behind Criteria’s entry is ACS’s plan to raise its dividend. “Criteria remains the investment arm of the Foundation, so dividends provide a cash flow that can be reinvested or used to remunerate the non-profit entity with a long-term horizon. In ACS’s case, this distribution is stable and growing and is embedded in its strategic plan,” notes Javier Cabrera. Finally, Javier Molina, a senior market analyst at eToro, believes Criteria’s financial backing for ACS could encourage investors to hold or increase positions in ACS, boosting confidence and stability for ACS given CriteriaCaixa’s solid track record in its investments.