Gleiss Lutz has advised European Investment Bank (EIB) in connection with a project financing for the expansion of the A6 between Wiesloch-Rauenberg and the Weinsberg intersection. The consortium consists of EIB and five other banks, namely Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., DZ Bank AG, KfW IPEX-Bank, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg – Förderbank – (L-Bank) and UniCredit Bank AG.
The project is being financed through a loan from EIB, a privately placed bond that can be purchased successively in the course of the construction work, bridging facilities, a debt service reserve facility and shareholder loans. The common terms agreement for the financing instruments was signed on 12 December 2016. The funding is being provided for the widening of the A6 motorway between Wiesloch-Rauenberg and the Weinsberg intersection. The portion of the motorway that is the subject of the project has a total length of 47.1 km and is being widened from four to six lanes over a length of 25 km. The project also includes the construction of a new Neckar Valley bridge (Neckartalbrücke) with a span of 1,300 m. Construction work is scheduled to commence at the beginning of 2017 and is estimated to last approximately 5.5 years, whereby the section near Heilbronn will be completed earlier, in 2019. The contract was awarded to construction companies HOCHTIEF, JOHANN BUNTE Bauunternehmung and the financial investor DIF Infrastructure IV. As part of the agreement, the private-sector companies entered into a public-private partnership with the Federal Republic of Germany, under the terms of which they agree to be responsible for the operation, maintenance and financing of the section of the motorway for a period of thirty years.
EIB was advised by the following Gleiss Lutz team: Dr. Eva Reudelhuber (lead, partner), Nikolos Tsagareli and Yana Koch (all banking and finance, Frankfurt).
Gleiss Lutz is frequently appointed to advise in large-volume infrastructure projects, one recent example being the advice to the bank consortium led by Norddeutsche Landesbank in the restructured financing of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH.
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