Linklaters has advised the sponsor consortium of Aeroports de Paris Management, S.A., VINCI Airports S.A.S. and Astaldi Concessioni SpA in connection with the US$900 million expansion development and project financing of the Arturo Merino Benitez Airport in Santiago, Chile. The transaction closed on July 29, 2016.
The project financing will provide for an expansion and renovation to bolster the airport’s existing terminal, as well as the construction, operation and maintenance of a new terminal at the airport, yielding a 30 million passenger per year capacity. The financing structure includes both US dollar and Chilean peso tranches and will be provided by Banca IMI S.P.A. - London Branch, Banco Santander, S.A., Caixiabank, S.A., Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Bank, Banco Bice, Banco de Credito e Inversiones and Banco Santander – Chile.
Construction arrangements for the project will be provided by a joint venture formed by affiliates of VINCI Airports S.A.S. and Astaldi Concessioni SpA.
The Linklaters team that advised on the transaction was led by Paul Lignieres (partner, Paris) and Mark Barges (counsel, Paris) on the concession, regulatory and subcontracting arrangements including construction arrangements, and New York qualified attorneys Vijaya Palaniswamy (partner, New York), Andrew Compton (counsel, Hong Kong) and Nathan Santamaria (associate, New York) on the financing.
The team in Paris commented:
“We are honored to have been able to support the French and Italian sponsor group in connection with this flagship project, which further demonstrates Linklaters’ expertise in complex and multi-jurisdictional infrastructure deals,” said Paul Lignieres. “This transaction reinforces Linklaters’ expertise in the airport sector and the firm’s ability to structure a large airport project with a challenging concession through a detailed risk analysis and bankable risk allocation in the subcontracts,” added Mark Barges.
The team in New York commented:
“This deal is a great example of Linklaters' ability to bring together a team of lawyers from around the globe to deliver commercial and financing solutions tailored to meet our clients' needs," said Vijaya Palaniswamy. “The financing structure brought together a number of bespoke equity structuring considerations, which made it an especially rewarding deal to get done for the sponsors,” added Andrew Compton.
