* The deal, which is in excess of €1.7 billion, is one of the largest European PPP projects of 2016
* It is also one of the largest road infrastructure development projects to have ever been undertaken by the Slovak Republic

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (“Freshfields”) has advised Zero Bypass Limited - a consortium comprising of Cintra Infraestructuras Internacional S.L.U., Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Limited and Porr AG - on the availability-payment based Public Private Partnership (“PPP”) project for the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of Slovakia’s D4 Highway and R7 Expressway. The total value of the deal is in excess of €1.7 billion, making it one of Europe’s largest PPP projects in 2016.

Representatives from Zero Bypass Limited - the concessionaire on the project - and the Slovak Republic signed the concession agreement on 20 May 2016 and the deal reached financial closure on 20 June.

The infrastructure development project – one of the largest in Slovakia’s history – involves the construction of the south eastern section of Bratislava's ring road and part of the southern expressway network that links the country’s eastern and western regions. The project also involves the maintenance of these roads for a period of 30 years.

The financial lenders for this project are the Slovak Investment Holding (“SIH”), which is a new Slovakian state investment fund that acted as a mezzanine lender, three export credit agencies - the European Investment Bank (“EIB”), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) and the Instituto de Credito Oficial (“ICO”) - and four commercial banks - Credit Agricole, UniCredit, CSOB, and SMBC. SIH and EIB each provided fixed rate facilities, while the commercial banks, ICO and EBRD provided floating rate facilities, split into three tranches - short term (10 years), medium term (20 years) and long term (32 years).

The Freshfields team was led by partners Nick Bliss and Alex Carver, senior associate Ronen Lazarovitch and associate James Chapman. Freshfields worked alongside the leading law firm, PRK Partners, on the deal, which has offices in Slovakia and the Czech Republic and which forms part of Freshfields’ StrongerTogether global network. The PRK team was led by partner, Miriam Galandova.