London Office Advises the European Investment Bank on HSL-ZUID High Speed Rail PPP Project
LONDON — The London office of McDermott Will & Emery advised the European Investment Bank on the €1.2 billion project financing of the high speed rail link to be constructed between Amsterdam in the Netherlands with the Belgian border.
The project is one of the largest infrastructure projects recently financed in Europe on a project finance basis and the first large infrastructure project in the Netherlands financed on a PPP (public private partnership) basis. The financing is in support of the design and construction of the superstructure and maintenance of the full structure of the rail connection, which is approximately 100 kilometres long.
Two senior loan facilities, both with a loan life of approximately 27 years, have been provided. The loan facility provided by the European Investment Bank is in a principal amount of €400 million. Other facilities (including loan and guarantee facilities) have been provided by an international commercial bank syndicate with an aggregate principal value of approximately €1.2 million, with the lead arranging banks being Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank, ING Bank, KBC, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, Dexia Public Finance Bank and Rabobank.
McDermott’s team was led by project finance partner Andrew Watson.
Andrew Watson said: "This is a significant and ground breaking PPP project financing for Continental Europe. The involvement of McDermott Will & Emery is a demonstration of the high regard for the ind-depth capability of our banking and projects practitioners."
The commercial bank syndicate was advised by Allen & Overy, the team including partners Graham Vinter, David Lee and Nigel Pritchard, senior associates Nick Williams and Mark Godfrey and associate Emma Strang. The project company and sponsors were advised by Slaughter & May, the team including partners Ian Goldie and Steven Edwards and senior associate Matthew Tobin. The State of the Netherlands was advised by Cameron McKenna led by partner Ian Bendell.
