Portugal PPP rebalancing claims reach €2360 million as Brisa seeks €1122.5 million

Brisa drives rise in public-private partnership rebalancing claims

The value of economic and financial rebalancing claims in Portugal’s public-private partnerships (PPPs), alongside other PPP contingencies for the State, surged last year. The increase was driven by road PPPs, where the total value of rebalancing claims reached €2360 million at the end of 2025, almost double the €1240 million recorded a year earlier, according to the General State Account (CGE) published by the Ministry of Finance.

The CGE says the rise of more than €1.1 billion resulted from several motorway concessions, most notably Brisa. The company claims it is entitled to an adjustment of up to €1122.5 million in the amounts it is due to receive. A “negotiation procedure” is under way concerning the concession operated by the company led by António Pires de Lima.

Brisa’s annual report and accounts states only that, “at the end of 2024, a new Negotiation Committee was established in relation to the Brisa Concession Contract, whose work began during 2025 and remains ongoing, covering several issues arising from the relationship between the State and the concessionaire”.

With a smaller impact, the Baixo Alentejo sub-concession - operated by France’s Vauban Infrastructure Partners since 2021 - has an estimated contingency of €9.1 million, linked to arbitration proceedings over the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the Portuguese State revised its estimate of the potential payment in the Douro Litoral Concession dispute from €124 million to €137 million. This case also relates to the effects of covid-19 and concerns a concession owned by the UK company Igneo Infrastructure Partners.

For the Algarve concession, the commencement of arbitration proceedings concerning the calculation of interest on delayed benefit-sharing payments between 2015 and 2022 “gave rise to a new contingency estimated at around €0.7 million”, the CGE says.

The impact of these cases, particularly Brisa’s, was partly offset by the implementation of an arbitration ruling on the Algarve Litoral concession. This reduced the State’s contingency - the amount it may still have to pay - from €340 million to €325 million. Under the amended Algarve concession contract, the State also paid €8.5 million last year, removing a contingency previously recorded at that amount. It also paid a further €1.7 million under the amended Norte Litoral concession contract, covering the A27 and A28 motorways and operated by the UK-based Igneo, thereby eliminating the contingency registered for that value.

PPP liabilities extend to 2062

Motorway concessions accounted for the sharpest increase in the State’s contingencies. In rail, existing PPPs ended 2025 with estimated contingencies of €199.6 million, only €0.5 million above the figure at the end of the previous year. This increase was due to a rebalancing claim by Metro do Porto following higher insurance costs.

In airport concessions, the value of contingencies remained unchanged from 2024 at €210.9 million. The figure relates to arbitration proceedings brought by Vinci in early 2024, alleging a loss of revenue caused by air-traffic restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic.

These figures cover only the risk of additional costs the State may face as a result of PPP rebalancing claims or disputes over payments to concessionaires. They do not include the costs already contractually envisaged under the partnerships.

According to the CGE, the State incurred expenditure of €1159 million on the country’s 42 existing PPPs in 2025, 3.1% above the amount budgeted for the year. The deviation stemmed from higher costs in road and rail projects. In healthcare, however, spending was below budget because construction of the Hospital de Lisboa Oriental was delayed.

State obligations under PPPs will continue until 2062, when the final active concession - the airport concession - expires. Costs are expected to peak at €1.9 billion this year, decline between 2027 and 2029, and then rise again in 2030. The current motorway concessions will end in 2040, rail concessions will run until 2055, and healthcare concessions until 2054.

Healthcare PPP contingencies fall

In healthcare, contingencies recognised by the State had in fact declined by the end of 2025, finishing the year at €98.2 million, €13.8 million lower than in 2024. The main factor was the State’s payment of €10.2 million to the operator of Hospital de Cascais, part of Spain’s Ribera group, for the impact of covid-19, as well as €1.3 million relating to hepatitis C treatment.

The contingency associated with Hospital de Braga also fell from €1.6 million to €0.7 million following an arbitration decision. This PPP was operated by the José de Mello group until 2019, although the group retained the legal disputes connected with the partnership. At Hospital de Vila Franca de Xira, whose PPP has also ended for the Mello group, the contingency linked to the covid-19 rebalancing claim dropped from €21 million to €18.4 million.

Nevertheless, the CGE reports that two new disputes concerning Hospital de Cascais emerged last year. They relate to disagreements over payments of €5.2 million for 2022 and €6.1 million for the period from 2013 to 2021.