Successful opertation in synergy with ATM confirms the Group's ability to implement complex projects in full cooperation with Clients and Institutions

90% work on the line exceeded, Corso Europa and Piazza Tricolore after urban regeneration works to hande back to citizens

• Divestment agreement signed in the final stages of the work with the project nearly completed demonstrates the Group's extraordinary ability to deliver highly complex infrastructure to communities in housing-intensive urban settings

• The transaction is a further step in the Group's long-term strategy on cash generation including through the optimization in project delivery operations in phases and the enhancement of non-strategic assets

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Milan, December 15, 2023 - A long, meticulous work carried out between the client, institutions and the company, made it possible to successfully reach an agreement for the sale of Webuild Group's entire stake in SPV Linea M4 S.p.A., in the interest of all players, to ATM S.p.A., the concessionaire company for the design, construction and operation of the M4 line of the Milan metro, for a total cash consideration of €141.3 million. 

The sale, in addition to representing an opportunity for capital turnover, also with a view to possible new investments, is a further step in the Group's strategy illustrated with the Roadmap to 2025 "The Future is Now," which includes the valorization and monetization of non-strategic assets. The deal confirms the Group's ability to deliver complex projects and the foresight of long-term system operations to strengthen the Italian infrastructure sector, such as "Progetto Italia", the industrial operation launched by the Group in 2019 together with CDP Equity, Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Banco BPM and several institutional investors. With this operation, Webuild has ensured, among other things, the continuity and progressive delivery of the M4 line, respecting the needs and expectations of the client and the public, also averting the danger of work stoppage and the delivery at a date to be determined, while also safeguarding the employment of hundreds of employees.

The agreement was signed between the public transport management company ATM S.p.A. and private shareholders, including subsidiaries Webuild Italia S.p.A. (9.63 percent stake) and Partecipazioni Italia S.p.A. (9,63% stake). The Webuild Group was assisted in the transaction by Natixis, as Financial Advisor, and Legance - Avvocati Associati and Lawyer Marco Annoni, as Legal Advisor. 

In the spirit of total cooperation and attention to the area, to enable citizens to use some sections of the line as soon as possible, as soon as works are completed, the first sections have been already delivered, in recent months, which connect San Babila Station in downtown Milan to Linate airport in just 12 minutes. The surface areas of Corso Europa and Piazza Tricolore will then be handed back to Milan’s citizens in the coming days, after a thorough plan of urban regeneration activities, which will be followed by the handover of the Largo Augusto areas in early 2024. 

The 15 km distance between the two terminals of Linate and San Cristoforo will be covered in just 30 minutes; following the M4's entry into operation, the metro line will be able to carry 24,000 people per hour per travel direction, with an expected annual total of 86 million passengers.  When completed, the M4 line will help take 180,000 cars per day off the streets, with significant benefits in terms of reduced CO2 emissions. It is a fully automated driverless light rail line that runs totally underground, and the carriage doors open only at station stops, with the platform totally separated from the moving carriages: a condition that ensures maximum safety for all passengers. 

Works on the entire line are nearing completion with progress exceeding 90 percent, and the delivery of all stops is expected by the end of 2024. 

The gradual delivery of the different sections of the M4 line, which represents one of the most important sustainable underground mobility projects in Europe, confirms the ability of Webuild, together with the entire supply chain, to build large, complex, and technologically advanced infrastructures in a challenging context such as a city like Milan, with high population and traffic density, while at the same time safeguarding the city's historical and artistic heritage. 

Over the past 10 years, Webuild has delivered, often in record time, 270 infrastructures of great complexity and size on four continents and in the major business areas it works in. 

With more than 14,000 kilometres of railways and metros built globally, Webuild is one of the global leaders in the field, capable of carrying out complex works in very different and challenging urban and suburban contexts, including the Grand Paris Express, the Riyadh and Doha metros, the New York City metro, as well as the major metro lines in Rome and Milan.