Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised SAAOne – a consortium comprising Hochtief PPP Solutions GmbH, VolkerInfra PPP B.V., Boskalis B.V. and the Dutch Infrastructure Fund (DIF Infra 3 Finance B.V.) – on the financing of the €1 billion A1/A6 Diemen-Muiderberg-Almere Havendreef motorway PPP project in the Netherlands.
“We are pleased to have supported the sponsors on this very significant Dutch infrastructure project, which demonstrates the resilience in a difficult market of long term project finance lending for well-structured deals involving key market participants,” said White & Case partner Caroline Miller Smith.
The project is financed through a mix of senior facilities, milestone and equity bridge facilities provided by commercial banks including Japanese banks BTMU and SMBC, German lenders including NordLB, KfW, LBBW and Helaba, French bank Crédit Agricole CIB and Italian bank UniCredit. European Investment Bank also provided senior debt. Crédit Agricole CIB is security agent, facility and intercreditor agent for the project.
White & Case’s team was led by London-based partner Caroline Miller Smith and included London associates Lucy Plowright and Tarek Mohanna. French law advice was provided by partner Paule Biensan with support from associate Amadou Soumano from the Paris office, while Hamburg-based partner Florian Degenhardt provided German law advice. Counsel Ingrid York and associate Richard Blackburn, both based in London, provided advice in respect of the hedging arrangements.
Advice in respect of Dutch law project documentation was provided by Houthoff Buruma.
