The consortium led by VINCI has finalised the acquisition from the French State of its majority shareholding in Aéroports de Lyon (ADL), the company operating the airports of Lyon-Saint Exupéry (the fourth largest airport in France) and Lyon-Bron. The consortium, comprising VINCI Airports, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and Predica Prévoyance Dialogue du Crédit Agricole, acquired the 60 per cent. stake in ADL in the context of the privatisation of Nice and Lyon airports which had been launched by the loi Macron in August 2015.

Bank financing for the acquisition was provided by a pool of financial institutions comprising Banca IMI, BNP Paribas, CACIB, CaixaBank, CIC, La Banque Postale, RBS, SMBC and Société Générale, which have also made available separate refinancing, capex and recapitalisation facilities to ADL to meet its on-going corporate requirements.

The lenders were advised by Linklaters with Bertrand Andriani, partner, and Darko Adamovic, Alex Bluett, Cédric Sinarinzi and Romain Marchand, associates. Assistance was provided by Paul Lignières, partner, and Clémence Graffan, associate, on public law matters and by Cyril Boussion, partner, and Grégory Abate, associate, on tax matters.

The consortium was advised by Allen & Overy with Marc Castagnede (corporate), Rod Cork (finance), Romaric Lazerges (public law) and Mathieu Vignon (tax), partners, and Amine Bourabiat (finance), Pierre Imbrecht (corporate) and Pauline Portos (finance), associates.