Gralado S.A. (Tres Cruces)

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What it is

Gralado operates, under a public-works concession, Montevideo’s sole intercity bus terminal — and, under a separate usufruct arrangement, the shopping mall directly attached to it. The terminal is the only one in Montevideo for any route longer than 60 kilometres, so every domestic and international long-distance bus must use it.

Inaugurated in 1994 as Uruguay’s first modern terminal with integrated retail, the complex has grown into the country’s principal transport hub and one of its most visited shopping centres. The total built area is 81,496 m², split between the terminal and a mall with more than 190 commercial tenants.

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Who owns it

The capital is made up of 12,816,000 ordinary bearer shares, each carrying one vote. The shares have traded on the Bolsa de Valores de Montevideo since February 2006 and the market is characterised by low liquidity and thin secondary-market volume for private-company equities.

Because the shares are bearer instruments, no single controlling bloc is publicly disclosed; ownership is effectively widely distributed among multiple shareholders.

Board chairman Carlos A. Lecueder holds approximately 3.9% of shares — a minority stake, though his family has been at the helm since inception.

In January 2025, the company formally changed its legal name to reflect its new status as a Sociedad de Beneficio e Interés Colectivo (BIC) — a Uruguayan designation for companies that embed social and environmental commitments in their charter alongside profit.

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Who runs it

The board is led by President Cr. Carlos A.

Lecueder, Vice-president Dr. Luis V. Muxí, and Director Catalina Vejo, with Ing.

Miguel Peirano serving as statutory auditor (síndico). Day-to-day management falls to General Manager Cr.

Marcelo Lombardi.

The project was originally conceived by a group of nine bus companies who engaged Dr. Luis V. Muxí to work alongside Cr.

Luis E. Lecueder — father of the current chairman — to lead its development and organise the investor group.

The concession was awarded on 20 July 1990, and the complex opened on 17 November 1994.

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The money, in plain words

Annual revenue for the twelve months to October 2025 stood at UYU 893 million (about USD 22 million) — up from USD 17.2 million in FY2023 and just USD 7.8 million at the pandemic trough of FY2021, a near-tripling in four years (our calculation). Moody’s expects revenues to run at USD 20–23 million annually, in line with Uruguay’s expected economic growth.

Roughly 60 cents of every peso of revenue reach the EBITDA line — an EBITDA margin of ~60% — and financial debt is a modest 0.7× EBITDA, with interest coverage comfortably above 10×. The shopping mall drives the most revenue: for the year ended April 2025, rental income from the mall accounted for 63% of total revenue, with the bus terminal providing the remaining 37%.

Occupancy in the shopping centre stood at 100% as of October 2025 — every rentable square metre is let. The share last traded at USD 7.00 in December 2025, valuing the company at 2.8× book equity per share — the premium a monopoly-grade asset commands.

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What it is doing now

In 2025 Gralado approved a USD 11.2 million expansion of its commercial space and parking, financed through a USD 11 million credit line from BBVA. Montevideo’s municipal authority (IMM) authorised early construction start in September 2025.

The expansion is part of the bargain struck when the concession was extended: in return for the renewal, Gralado committed to a total investment programme of USD 23.6 million in upgrades and special maintenance, while accepting a 10.7% reduction in per-bus platform fees from November 2024. Both the terminal concession and the shopping usufruct now run to 31 December 2041.

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What to watch

• Currency mismatch: revenues are entirely in Uruguayan pesos, but 54% of debt is denominated in foreign currency — a rising dollar tightens the debt burden without any offsetting lift in income.
• Construction execution: The USD 11.2M expansion is the largest capital project in years; delays or cost overruns could pressure the currently light debt load.
• Concession risk after 2041: All operations are concentrated on a single city concession running to 2041; geographic concentration leaves the company fully exposed to Montevideo’s economic cycle.
• Thin liquidity: The share started trading in February 2006, and the secondary market sees very low volumes — buyers and sellers may wait weeks for a match.

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This is news, not investment advice.