The Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB), one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Greater China, has finally secured adequate financial security after the developers were extended an RMB 29bn syndicated credit facility. The loan will enable the HZMB Authority to finance and operate the bridge.
The financing was offered by a consortium comprising nine mainland banks and was led by the Bank of China (BOC).
A Zhong Lun team led by partners finance Fan Rong and Li Haiqing under the supervision of construction partner Zhu Maoyuan, represented the consortium of banks, while King &Wood were retained by the HZMB Authority.
Li Haiqing, whose team worked with closely with the in-house legal teams at the consortium of banks, said balancing the competing concerns of the country’s regulators and the needs of the borrowers and lenders as well as achieving close in the face of fluctuating interest rates, were just a few of the many complexities of this transaction.
"One of the challenges was to meet the compliance requirements of China Banking Regulatory Commission and those internal credit approval requirements of each participating bank, while satisfying the unusual and extraordinary needs of the Borrower concerning the project’s construction and operation,” he said. “Both sides were under high pressure to conclude and sign the loan documents early before the next PBOC interest rate hike.”
Back in 2009, a consortium of law firms led by Pinsent Masons and including Jun He, TeamWin Law Firm, and Macau’s DSL Lawyers, were successful in their tender to provide initial legal advice to the project including the preparation of inter-governmental agreements between the governments of the PRC, Hong Kong and Macau SARs, as well the legal framework for the HZMB Authority.
The project is expected to be completed by 2016.ALB
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