Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised on two motorway restructurings, the Maliakos-Kleidi and the Elefsina-Korinthos-Patras-Pyrgos-Tsakona motorways in Greece, with a combined value of €3.1 billion.
Norton Rose Fulbright advised on all legal aspects of the restructurings.
London banking and finance partner Madhavi Gosavi led the restructurings, together with partners Charles Whitney, Jeffrey Barratt and Peter Hall. They were assisted by Ann Vesely, Phil Hanson, Christina MacGilp, Ben Sealy, Eleanor Cochrane and Jessica Bethell-Jones.
Madhavi Gosavi, partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, commented:
“The successful conclusion of these two motorway restructurings has increased investor confidence and demonstrates the Greek Government’s commitment to supporting new and existing infrastructure.”
“These transactions were particularly challenging as we had to find solutions to preserve the limited recourse nature of the projects, protect the interests of the shareholders and incentivise the banks and the Greek Government to continue to support the projects on revised terms.”
Norton Rose Fulbright acted for project company Aegean Motorway on the restructuring of the €1.3 billion Maliakos-Kleidi motorway. The shareholders of Aegean Motorway are HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions GmbH, Vinci Concessions S.A.S., AKTOR Concessions S.A., J&P AVAX S.A., AEGEK and Athena S.A. The lenders were advised by Hogan Lovells. Koutalidis Law Firm advised the project company on the Greek legal aspects of the restructuring.
Norton Rose Fulbright acted for the lenders, including 26 banks and the European Investment Bank (EIB), on the restructuring of the €1.8 billion Elefsina-Korinthos-Patras-Pyrgos-Tsakona motorway. Linklaters advised Olympia Odos, the project company, and Karatzas and Partners advised on the Greek legal aspects of the restructuring.
Both restructurings closed on December 17. Construction work on the motorways is expected to resume in early 2014 and the motorways are expected to be operational by the end of 2015.
The restructurings form part of a series of motorway projects Norton Rose Fulbright has advised on in the past year. The practice’s Milan office recently advised the project company Società di Progetto Brebemi S.p.A. on a new €1.818 billion, 62km toll motorway linking Brescia, Bergamo and Milan, the first major motorway infrastructure project in Italy to be completed entirely with private and project finance. The London office has also advised the EIB, the Bank of Ireland and the Irish National Pensions Reserve Fund as lenders to the Irish National Road Authority’s N11/N7 Arklow – Rathnew Public Private Partnership, the first road transport PPP to reach financial close in Ireland since 2007. The practice has also recently been engaged to advise on a range of road projects throughout the US.
