Press Release
06 July 2007
McGrigors advises on two major public private partnership projects for the City of Newcastle
UK law firm McGrigors LLP has once again demonstrated its expertise in the PPP sector having advised on the funding of two major PPP projects for the City of Newcastle with a value of circa £210 million.
McGrigors has acted for BNP Paribas and European Investment Bank as funders of the Aura Newcastle consortium (Sir Robert McAlpine, Robertson Capital Projects and Parsons Brinckerhoff) on the first phase of Newcastle City Council’s £180 million PPP contract to refurbish or rebuild 16 schools across the city through the BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme. The deal reached financial close on 5 July 2007, and the first phase comprises four primary and four secondary schools.
McGrigors has also acted for Bank of Scotland as funders of a £30 million project to build two new libraries in the city. Bank of Scotland is funding the Kajima-led consortium, which is constructing and maintaining the libraries. The consortium includes Ryder HKS and Tolent Construction and the libraries will be run by the Newcastle City Council.
Stephen Tobin, a partner in the McGrigors Project Finance Team, who advised on both deals said: "We are pleased to have been involved in these important infrastructure projects for the City. We have now acted on over 150 PPP projects across the UK and are delighted to have worked with the partners involved in both Newcastle assignments. The Newcastle BSF is our 40th project in the UK education sector to have reached financial close and we are currently involved in a number of other projects in this sector. Public Private Partnership projects are a key facet in the growth of our Infrastructure Practice."
For further information please contact:
Louisa Hollins
Financial Dynamics
Telephone - +44 (0) 20 7269 7108
Email - Louisa.hollins@fd.com
Andy Peat
Financial Dynamics
Telephone - +44 (0) 20 7269 7185
Email - andy.peat@fd.com