Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Vauban Infrastructures Partners and Aberdeen Standard Investments on the refinancing of the debt of Concessió Estacions Aeroport L9, S.A., concessionaire of Line 9, section 1 of the Barcelona Metro network. The deal involved raising EUR 1,174,000,000 by means of a senior facility agreement and a bond issuance, both subject to Spanish law

Clifford Chance has advised Concessió Estacions Aeroport L9, S.A. on the refinancing of its existing debt by means of a EUR 584 million Spanish law senior facility agreement and a EUR 590 million Spanish law bond issuance structured and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This is one of the first project bond structures entirely under Spanish law. The project’s cash flow and good financials have driven strong interest from significant institutional investors from Europe, US and Asia.

Line 9, section 1 of the Barcelona Metro network connects the city centre with the Barcelona International Airport and is considered one of the most relevant infrastructure projects in Catalonia.

Clifford Chance's multijurisdictional team was led by Global Financial Markets partner José Guardo assisted by Corporate partner Guillermo Guardia and supported by María Sabau, Francisco Pizarro, Ángel Muñoz, Juan Puras, María González and Enrique País on the Spanish side.

The Global Financial Markets team dealing with crossborder aspects of this transaction also included partner Clare Burgess, Benjamin Evans and Christopher Osborne from the London office; partner Bas Boris Visser, Victor ten Have and Ena Talic from the Amsterdam office and partner Stefanie Ferring, Sherazade Ould-Hocine and Vanille Launay from the Luxembourg office.

Additionally, the multidisciplinary Spanish team counted on public law partner José Luis Zamarro and tax counsel Roberto Grau.

This is the largest refinancing to date for a transport concession project in Catalonia. This deal, along with others closed in recent months, demonstrates the continuous involvement of Clifford Chance in some of the most complex and relevant infrastructure deals on the Spanish market.