GSM-R, a landmark French Public Private Partnership
The GSM-R transaction, which closed in February 2010, received the « Europe Telecommunications Deal of the Year » award at the Project Finance International (PFI) Awards ceremony in London on January, 26th.
On this project, CBR’s Project Finance team acted the financial advisor of the grantor, Reseau Ferré de France (RFF), for the entry into force of a 15-year partnership between RFF and a private consortium led by Vinci, SFR, Axa and TDF, called Synerail.
This Public Private Partnership (“PPP”), the largest one in France at the time it closed, involves the deployment of a state to the art GSM-R type security telecommunication network covering the 14'000 km French railway network, in order to contribute directly to increasing of the French network's interoperability with the other railway networks across Europe. Synerail will be in charge of the design, build, finance, operation and maintenance the security telecommunication network over a 15-year period. In terms of key figures, GSM-R represents a total project cost of EUR 800 millions, EUR 500 millions in senior debt and EUR 500 millions in maintenance costs.
Infrastructure Journal league tables for 2010
A reference in the sector, Infrastructure Journal issues semi-annual league tables of the financial players region by region and globally. This year, La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild ranked second behind KPMG but before established commercial and investment banks like Natixis and Société Générale in the PPP Financial Advisors in Western Europe league table. It also ranked second behind IFC in the similar league table for Africa and Middle East.