Ashurst has advised the funders to the Granvia Consortium (Vinci
Concessions and Meridiam) on the first major Slovakian PPP and one
of the largest transport deals in the CEE to date. The deal was
funded by 12 commercial banks in addition to the EBRD with total
debt commitments amounting to approximately €1bn.
The 52km R1 Expressway will connect the towns of Nitra and Tekovské
Nemce and by-pass the city of Banská Bystrica, to the east of
Bratislava, with construction due to start in Autumn 2009.
This project follows Ashurst closing the M25 DBFO earlier this
year, the largest deal to close in the UK since the onset of the
global financial crisis.
The Ashurst team was led by energy, transport and infrastructure
partners Jason Radford and Patrick Boyle, with senior
associates Matthew Rickards and Nikhil Markanday, associates
Yassira Zaandam, Jo Kay and Yai Tjang Tong, and trainees Nicholas
Dimitriou, Richard Crowley and Ed McNeil. Derivatives partner Chris Whiteley provided
advice on swaps.
Commenting on the deal, Patrick Boyle said:
"The size of the project and its being the first PPP project in the
Slovak Republic made this a challenge for all parties. Despite
this, Ashurst's extensive PPP and project financing experience
assisted the funders in getting comfortable on all the risks and
obstacles that presented themselves. We continue to show that we
have a first class project finance/PPP practice across all
jurisdictions and for every kind of deal."
Jason Radford added:
"To assist in closing the first PPP project in the Slovak Republic
with such a large club of banks providing over €1bn of debt is a
huge achievement in the context of the current lending environment
and a testimony to the expertise of the sponsors, funders and their
respective advisers. To close two €1bn-plus road deals in the space
of five months also demonstrates the strength of the Ashurst ETI
practice."