The project consists in financing, designing, building, operating and maintaining for a duration of 55 years a 35km toll road stretch (2x2 lanes) linking existing sections between Le Havre and Rouen. This ca. Euro 280million road PPP which is part of the projects tendered as part of the Grenelle de l’Environnement.
The preferred bidder consortium, ALBEA, comprises NGE (as lead agent), Fayat, OFI Infravia and Société Financière A150 (mainly owned by TIIC – the transport infrastructure focused investment vehicle structured and co-owned by CBR).
The goal is now to reach financial and contractual close by November 2011. CBR designed a tailor made financing structure suited to the complex risk profile of a project bearing traffic risk. Putting together a pool of banks supporting the consortium and validating common terms and conditions contributing to the competitiveness of the consortium’s bid was key objective. This challenge was completed successfully despite risk adverse bank market conditions especially for this type of project. CBR will now be determined to assist the consortium in closing the transaction within the target timeframe.
This project enabled CBR to be associated to new projects alongside NGE, one of which consists in the structuring and implementation of a small to medium sized PPP focused private equity vehicle in France, with a targeted size of Euro 300 million.
Last but not least, the presence of TIIC within the winning consortium is a token of the interest for CBR to be involved in the structuring and co-management of such investment vehicles.