港珠澳大桥管理局近日正式与大桥主体工程项目银团签订29亿元的贷款，这意味着世界上最长的跨海大桥-港珠澳大桥主桥的建设有了充足的资金保障。
主题工程项目银团有内地9大银行组成，中国银行为牵头行。
中伦作为中国银行的法律顾问，为此次银团贷款项目提供了从银团筹组到贷款文件签订全过程的法律服务。法律团队由合伙人樊荣和李海青组成，合伙人朱茂元担任领导和协调人。
李海青认为本次交易比较复杂的一点是如何平衡多方面的需求，包括政府，借贷双方以及波动的利率。
曾经在2009年 “大桥主体项目专项法律顾问”成功中标的品诚梅森联合体已经完成其法律服务工作包括起草内地和港澳三地的政府间协议、备忘录，为大桥项目组织架构及运作模式设计法律框架。
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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