International law firm Allen & Overy is advising project company Società di Progetto Brebemi SpA on the first ever PFI toll road project in Italy. Società di Progetto Brebemi SpA was incorporated on 10th March by the concessionaire of the BreBeMi project, as required under Italian law.
The project, which is valued EUR1.3 billion (including EUR670 million of construction costs) is for the design, construction and operation of the new Milan-Bergamo-Brescia 50-km toll road and related interconnections. It will also be the first ever Italian PFI initiative to be 100% privately financed. Construction will be contracted out to a general contractor under an innovative legal framework recently introduced by Italian law which allows for the expropriation, design (both the so-called “definitive design” and “executive” design) and construction to be contracted out to a single entity.
The next stage of the project is the approval of the Comitato Interministeriale per la Programmazione Economica (the interministerial committee for economic planning).
The shareholders of the project company (see attached list) include major Italian toll road concessionaires (Autostrade per l’Italia, CentroPadane, Brescia-Padova, and Milano Mare – Milano Tangenziali), contractors (Pizzarotti, Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni) and designers (including SPEA Ingegneria Europea).
The financial advisor is Banca Intesa S.p.A.
The Allen & Overy team, led by partner Franco Vigliano, includes partner Catia Tomasetti, Carlo Andrea Meacci, Nunzio Bicchieri and Simone Egidi.
Commenting on the deal, Franco Vigliano said:
“This innovative deal, which is regarded as a market first, has set a milestone in the Italian infrastructure project finance market”.
