Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised – jointly with Norton Rose Fulbright (“NRF”) and Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein – the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and the Autobahndirektion Nordbayern, as representatives of the federal government, on the award process for and financial close of the A3 PPP project to expand the A3 motorway between AK Biebelried and AK Fürth/Erlangen.
The A3 Nordbayern consortium, backed by the Eiffage and Johann Bunte groups, secured long-term debt financing for the project on 7 April 2020, having previously successfully competed in the Europe-wide tender by the responsible awarding authority, the Autobahndirektion Nordbayern.
The A3 PPP project, which has been planned as an availability model, is the largest PPP infrastructure project in Germany to date. Construction work is scheduled to begin on 1 May 2020, with completion expected by end 2025. The project extends the A3 motorway from the Biebelried junction to the west of the Main-Danube Canal Bridge shortly before the Fürth/Erlangen junction over a length of 76 kilometres. It also includes the six-lane expansion of the A3 as well as the project’s maintenance, operation and pro-rata financing over a period of 30 years.
The WFW Germany team who advised on the project wads led by Munich Corporate Partner Dr Christian Bauer, who commented: “We are very pleased to have advised the public authorities on the largest PPP infrastructure project in Germany to date. This once again demonstrates WFW’s well recognised expertise in the infrastructure sector”.
