International legal practice Norton Rose has advised the project company Società di Progetto Brebemi S.p.A. (“Brebemi”), concessionaire of the project for the construction and management of a new 62km toll motorway linking the Northern Italian cities of Brescia, Bergamo and Milan (the "Brebemi Motorway") on securing €1.818 billion limited recourse facilities for the project.

The limited recourse facilities to Brebemi include:

Ashurst has advised lenders on the €1.818 billion project financing of the Brebemi toll road.  The lenders comprise Centrobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario e Mobiliare S.p.A., Credito Bergamasco S.p.A., Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., MPS Capital Services Banca per le Imprese S.p.A. and UniCredit S.p.A. Amongst the institutional investors there are the European Investment Bank and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A., with SACE S.p.A. as guarantor. Banco Popolare is acting as co-guarantor.

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised the finance parties on the signing of a limited-recourse US$1.4 billion facility to Otoyol Yatirim ve I.s,letme A.S,. in connection with the financing of phase I of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir motorway (including the Izmit Gulf Crossing suspension bridge), tendered under the Turkish BOT law.

Ashurst advised First Reserve, a leading private investment firm in the energy industry, in relation to the project financing of two special purpose companies owned by First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund that own two solar plants in Sicily in the province of Ragusa. The plants have an overall capacity of approximately 4 MW. The financing has been granted by Natixis Milan Branch, advised by Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners.

The Ashurst team, led by partner Carloandrea Meacci, included Francesca Brilli, Nicola Toscano and Christina Edward.

Ashurst advised the funders on the successful development and financing, by a consortium of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Mitsubishi Corporation and Wartsila, of the approximately US$ 800 million IPP3 independent power project in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which reached financial close on 7 March 2013.

Milan: International legal practice Norton Rose has advised Banca IMI S.p.A . as arranger and lender on a €22.08 million limited recourse financing for the construction, operation and maintenance of four biogas-vegetable waste plants (aggregate capacity 4 MW). The plants are owned by four Italian special purpose vehicles which are in turn owned by Kinexia Group, a company listed on the Italian Stock Exchange (MTA – electronic stock market) and active in the renewables sector.

Watson, Farley & Williams Asia Practice LLP (“WFW”) is pleased to announce that it has advised Golar LNG Group on a US$155 million term facility and a US$20 million revolving facility for the financing of Indonesia’s first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), “Nusantara Regas Satu” (formerly known as the “Khannur”). 

This is also the first floating regasification facility in South East Asia.

On Tuesday 26 February 2013 the PPP project A1/A6 Diemen – Almere Havendreef in the Netherlands reached Financial Close. This project is part of the highway extension program Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere (SAA). The financing agreements were signed, which marks the successful completion of the tender procedure for the design, build, financing and maintenance of the extension of the A1/A6 Diemen – Almere Havendreef.

Paris: The Paris office of international legal practice Norton Rose has advised Polesine S.A., a subsidiary of Akuo Energy S.A.S., on the USD 88.5m financing granted by development finance institution Proparco (also acting as arranger), Dutch development bank FMO and German development finance bank DEG for the construction and operation of a wind farm located in San Gabriel (Florida), Uruguay.

South Africa’s Investec Bank and private investment company Low Carbon have partnered to fund four solar PV plants in the UK.

Low Carbon has funded development by Inazin Power and is providing construction equity with Investec supplying debt for the projects.

The facilities are located in the South and South West of England and will have a combined capacity of 23MW.  They are set to enter commercial operation in February and March this year, serving more than 7,200 households.