July 1, 2015
Refinancing transaction involves a €860 million credit facility with a 25-year maturity made available to Concessionaire Atlandes.
Concessionaire Atlandes recently announced the refinancing of the 2011 loans it received for the initial financing of the concession for the design, construction, widening, operation and maintenance of the A63 toll road section between Salles (Gironde) and Saint-Geours-de-Maremne (Landes) in France. Willkie represented the lenders and the hedging banks in the refinancing of the A63. Atlandes’ shareholders comprise Colas Sud-Ouest, Aximum, Spie batignolles, NGE Concessions, Egis Investment Partners France, European Motorway Investments and DIF.
The refinancing transaction involves a €860 million credit facility with a 25-year maturity made available to Atlandes by a pool of banks composed by Banca IMI, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIC, Crédit Agricole CIB, ING Bank and Société Générale. Institutional investors, including La Banque Postale Asset Management and Scor, also took part in the transaction, acting via dedicated loan acquisition investment funds. Additionally, the transaction involved the transfer and restructuring of hedging instruments (interest rate swaps) to avoid early termination and the payment of substantial breakage costs.
The Willkie deal team was led by partner Amir Jahanguiri, and included special European Counsel Michaël Armandou and associates Roy Charles Bates, Cédric Gamambaye Dionmou and Anthony Minzière (project finance); partner Thierry Laloum and associates Anne-Laure Barel and Emilie Patoux (administrative law); and associates Solenn Messerli (tax) and Thomas Saint-Loubert-Bié (corporate).
