Terminal Tres Cruces S.A.

What it is

The Terminal de Ómnibus is the only bus terminal in Montevideo for routes longer than 60 kilometres, concentrating all long- and medium-distance domestic bus traffic in the city. It is also the departure and arrival point for international services from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and connections to other South American countries.

The total built area between the bus terminal and the shopping centre is 81,496 m², with more than 190 retail and service tenants. The complex opened on 17 November 1994, when the original 30-year concession came into force.

Gralado S.A. runs both the Tres Cruces shopping centre and the bus terminal, and turned to the capital markets just one year after opening its doors in 1994, first by issuing bonds. More than a decade after that, Tres Cruces opened its share capital in 2006, seeking liquidity and greater transparency.

Who owns it

Tres Cruces shares are among the most actively traded on the BVM secondary market; the shareholder register is approximately 70% retail investors and 30% institutional funds. No single controlling shareholder or family block is disclosed in the filings reviewed — the company is widely held, with governance overseen by a board elected at annual shareholder meetings.

Not published: the BVM filing index and the KPMG-audited annual accounts (to 30 April 2025) do not disclose a breakdown of individual shareholders above any reporting threshold. Uruguay’s securities law (Ley 18.627) requires listed companies to disclose material shareholdings, but the filings reviewed contain no such notification, consistent with a genuinely dispersed free float.

Who runs it

The board is led by President Carlos A. Lecueder and Vice-President Dr. Luis V.

Muxí, with Catalina Vejo as director. Day-to-day operations are run by General Manager Cr.

Marcelo Lombardi, who has been in the role for many years and is quoted in public sources as the face of the company’s capital-markets strategy.

According to Lombardi, being listed has been “very positive,” as it requires demanding standards of information and corporate governance. The annual accounts are audited by KPMG Uruguay, with the most recent opinion dated 31 July 2025.

The money, in plain words

In the year to April 2025, net sales reached UYU 887 million (~$22.0 m USD), essentially flat versus the UYU 887 million (US$22 mn) reported in the same period — steady, not spectacular, which is exactly what a regulated monopoly infrastructure asset tends to look like. The gross profit margin before depreciation and amortisation — the EBITDA margin — was 59%, and the operating profit margin (EBIT) was 49%.

Both are high for any kind of business, let alone a bus station.

For every real of assets the company owns, equity (what shareholders actually own) accounts for UYU 1,264 m (US$31 mn) out of total assets of UYU 1,743 m (US$43 mn) — an equity ratio of 73%, meaning the business is funded almost entirely by its own means (our calculation). Total financial debt at October 2025 was UYU 377 million (US$9 mn), split between a bank loan with Itaú (78%) and BBVA (22%).

Net of cash on hand, net debt was roughly UYU 213 m (US$5 mn) (~$5.3 m) at year-end April 2025 — a leverage ratio of just 0.7× annual operating profit before depreciation, extremely low (our calculation).

The shopping centre occupancy rate at October 2025 was 100% — every unit rented. Moody’s Local Uruguay affirms the company’s issuer rating at AA-.uy with a stable outlook, which in a Uruguayan context represents a very high-grade investment quality for a private company of this size.

What it is doing now

In 2025, the company approved a USD 11.2 million expansion of its commercial area and car parks, to be funded by an USD 11 million bank credit line with BBVA. The loan carries a one-year capital grace period during which disbursements are made, with capital repayment beginning in July 2026 in 108 equal monthly instalments.

In August 2023, the Uruguayan government extended Gralado’s concession over the Terminal Tres Cruces to 2041. In exchange, the company committed to a programme of investment in expansions, renovation works and special maintenance.

That concession extension is the most important strategic event of recent years — it locks in the company’s revenue visibility for 15 more years.

What to watch

• BBVA expansion loan drawdowns. By October 2025, USD 2 million and UI 1.6 million had already been disbursed. Delivery of the expanded commercial and parking area will determine whether rental income grows materially post-2026.
• Bus traffic trends. Bus arrivals at the terminal fell 3.3% year-on-year to November 2025, though international services were 9.3% above the same month of the prior year. Domestic travel is the softer spot.
• Currency mismatch. The company earns in Uruguayan pesos but 54% of its debt (at October 2025) is in foreign currency — a manageable gap at today’s leverage, but one that widens if the peso depreciates sharply.
• Moody’s upgrade conditions. Analysts expect annual revenues to remain in the USD 20–23 million range and EBITDA margins around 60%. A scale-up or geographic diversification would be needed to trigger an upgrade from AA-.uy.

This is news, not investment advice.