US Citigroup to buy Sacyr's Itinere highway operator

MADRID: Heavily indebted Spanish construction group Sacyr Vallehermoso said on Monday it was selling its toll road operator Itinere to a Citigroup infrastructure fund in a deal worth 7.88 billion euros.

Citi Infraestructure Partners will buy Itinere for 2.87 billion euros (3.63 billion dollars) and assume 5.01 billion euros in debt.

Sacyr said the deal would allow it to "considerably reduce its debt" to 12.48 billion euros.

Huge debts have pushed Sacyr to put its 20.01 percent of stake in Spanish-Argentine oil major Repsol YPF up for sale.

Russian oil giant Lukoil is in talks to buy the stake. But the proposed deal has sparked concern in Spain that a Russian company would hold the largest stake in the country's largest oil group.

In its statement, Sacyr did not say what impact the Itinere deal would have on the possible sale of its Repsol stake.