Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the Wellington Gateway Partnership consortium (WGP) on its successful bid for New Zealand’s largest ever Public Private Partnership (PPP), the availability based NZ$1 billion Transmission Gully Motorway.
WGP will finance, design and construct the project and then operate and maintain the 27km Transmission Gully Motorway for a 25 year period following completion of construction. The project is New Zealand’s first state highway to be delivered as a PPP. WGP aims to have the Transmission Gully highway open for traffic by 2020.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised the consortium throughout the competitive bidding process and continued negotiations with the New Zealand Transport Agency to complete the transaction, which reached Financial Close on 29 July 2014.
The WGP consortium includes Leighton Contractors, InfraRed Capital Partners, Accident Compensation Corporation, HEB Construction Ltd and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Herbert Smith Freehills partners Josh Sgro, Gerard Pike and senior associate Andrew Griffiths led a cross practice team in relation to the PPP project, with support from special counsel, Nicole Lacy, senior associates Andrea Castle, Lynda Tully and Tyson Carruthers and solicitors Nile Rodman, Joyce Cunningham, Matt Sercombe, Yasmin Parat and Alex Wilson.
