Australian Company Buys Up Dulles Greenway

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story suggested that the company purchased the Dulles Toll Road as well. The company only purchased the Dulles Greenway.

RESTON, VA — An Australian company has just bought the remaining 50 percent of the Dulles Greenway for $445 million.

Macquarie Atlas Roads, which is based in Sydney, now has full ownership of the Dulles Greenway. The company had already owned 50 percent of the road and decided to exercise its rights to buy the other half from Macquerie Infrastructure Partners.

It's a big acquisition for Macquarie Atlas Roads, as it raises the percentage of toll income it receives from U.S. roads to 16 percent from 9 percent, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The company hopes to boost revenues from the Greenway by improving entry and exit points, the report states.

Macquarie Atlas Roads said in a statement that it decided to make the move because the area along the Dulles Greenway is "one of the fastest growing and most affluent counties in the United States," with traffic and revenue growth of 3.5 and 6.1 percent, respectively.

"The Acquisition represents a value accretive investment for MQA, enhancing our ability to optimise Greenway’s key operating business decisions, capital structure and cash flows over the longer term, to ensure the reliability of its service to commuters and drive future asset performance," MQA's Chief Executive Officer Peter Trent said in the statement.

Image via Wikimedia user Joshua Davis