This highway was Britain's first privately funded tolled motorway, following closely the initiation of the national government-supported Private Financing Initiative for infrastructure financing and development in 1992. A 53-year DBFO concession contract was originally awarded in 1992. However, local opposition and legal maneuvering delayed project initiation until September 2000. The toll road opened to traffic in December 2003. The concession ends in 2054.
The partners to the PPP included:
• Public Sponsor: Highways Agency. Owen Williams Ltd. served as the Managing Agent for the Area Team responsible for the highway system in the West Midlands area, including this project.
• Private Concession Team: Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL) which consisted of the following two partners:
- Macquarie Infrastructure Group (75%)
- Autostrade (25%)
Supporting the concession team were the following firms, listed by function:
• Technical Advisor: Jacobs Babtie. Babtie is also fulfilling the roles of Technical Approval Authority, Certifying Engineer and Lenders' Technical Advisor.
• Construction Joint-Venture - CAMBBA Construction Group
- Carillion
- Alfred McAlpine
- Balfour Beatty
- Amec
• Toll Operations - Ascom Monétel
• Financiers:
- Banque Indosuez (lead)
- National Westminster
- Barclays de Zoete Wedd
• Private Advisors:
- Dresdner Kleinwort Benson
- Ashurst Morris Crisp
- Berwin Leighton