In 2012, ITRCC was suffering from a number of financing issues. Although earnings had increased each year between 2008 and 2013, they did not meet expectations due in part to the Great Recession following the 2008 financial crisis. This led to the reduction of the interest reserve account from $150 to $40 million. ITRCC retained financial advisers to recommend how its debt could be restructured. In addition to low revenues, interest rates were set to rise on its debt due to accrediting swap agreements (agreements that contractually trade interest rate terms with another party). These conditions raised the risk that the company would default on its debt, which would lead to loss of the concession.
In September 2014, ITRCC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Chicago. The liquidity facility was fully drawn, and the company had missed an interest payment in June 2014. The terms of the bankruptcy would lead either to the sale of ITRCC at auction or the restructuring of the company's debt with a new $2.75 billion financing package that would cede nearly 96 percent of Cintra and Macquarie's equity investment to ITRCC's creditors. The bankruptcy was approved in October 2014.
After ITRCC's bankruptcy filing was approved, the ITR lease was put out to bid under the condition that the successor adhere to the performance standards set out in the 2006 concession agreement. The IFA and its advisers evaluated four bids and interviewed proposers. In March 2015, IFA awarded the new lease concession to IFM Investors, an Australian company owned by 30 different Australian and American pension funds, including the California State Teachers' Retirement System, New York City Employee Retirement System, and the Illinois State Board of Investment. The bankruptcy has no financial impact on the State of Indiana, and drivers and toll road employees are essentially unaffected.
On May 27, 2015, ownership of ITRCC was transferred from Cintra and Macquarie to IFM Investors. IFM Investors paid $5.725 billion to operate the ITR over a 66-year concession period. Nearly all of the sale funds will be used to pay back creditors holding ITRCC's debt. IFM has plans to invest $260 million in capital improvements over the first five years of the concession to address deteriorating pavement, bridges, and travel plazas.