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CMS Cameron McKenna advises on the financial closure of Phase Two of the A1 Toll Motorway, worth EUR 1.07 billion |
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Date: 22/07/2009
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Wadim Kurpias
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CMS Cameron McKenna has advised Gdańsk Transport Company S.A. (GTC) (as a concessionaire and borrower) on the financing of Phase Two of the A1 Toll Motorway, section from Nowe Marzy to Czerniewice. The project is worth EUR 1.07 billion.
On 9 July, the Polish Minister of Infrastructure signed a disbursement request from GTC. The financial institutions providing financing for the motorway will now release the first tranche of EUR 157,700,000 with financing provided by European Investment Bank, Nordic Investment Bank and AB Svensk Exportkredit.
As GTC’s legal counsel, CMS Cameron McKenna not only provided advice on the provision of finance (including negotiating collateral for the financing institutions), but also drafted a legal and financial study of the investment, negotiated granting the concession and the agreement on the construction and operation of the A1 Toll Motorway.
Wadim Kurpias, partner at CMS Cameron McKenna commented: “It is really very inspiring to participate in one of the largest infrastructure investments in our country. We’re proud to have been able to successfully assist our client throughout this complex project. Apart from a thorough knowledge of law, it required full commitment and an understanding of the many complicated business issues. It is definitely one of the most significant infrastructure projects that we have ever advised on. The successful financial closure of an investment of such significance to the country cannot be overestimated, especially in view of the current situation on the financial markets”.
GTC is a special-purpose company established solely for the purposes of constructing and operating the A1 Toll Motorway in Poland. The company was granted the concession to design, build and operate a new segment of the motorway from Gdańsk to Toruń totalling 152 km. GTC is a joint-stock company. Its shareholders are the Swedish Skanska Infrastructure Development AB, the British John Laing Infrastructure Ltd., the Polish investor NDI Autostrada Sp. z o.o., and the South African Intertoll Infrastructure Developments BV.
The new stretch of the A1 Toll Motorway, which is to be built under Phase Two is 62 km long. Preparatory construction works began in the second half of 2008. With the release of the financing, the general contractor – a joint venture of Skanska S.A. and NDI S.A. – will now commence full-range construction works.
For the purposes of this investment, the contractor will create approximately 1,200 jobs, and subcontractors and suppliers will offer another 4,000. Over the next two years, more than PLN 3 billion (or approximately USD 1 billion) will be invested into Polish economy.
The CMS Cameron McKenna team was led by partners Andrew Kozlowski, Wadim Kurpias and Dominika Uberman and included Marcin Oszczak, Maciej Ziółkowski, Magda Brzozowska and Konrad Werner.
The law firm Wardyński & Partners advised the Polish State Treasury. Allen & Overy A. Pędzich Sp. k. advised European Investment Bank, the Swedish Export Credit Corporation and Nordic Investment Bank.
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