Steer supports the A9 BaHo DBFM Financial Close with LTA services

On 2 December 2019, the VEENIX Consortium (led by Macquarie Capital and supported by Siemens and project delivery firm Count & Cooper) reached Financial Close on the circa EUR 1bn Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) A9 Badhoevedorp - Holendrecht (the “A9 BaHo”) motorway project in the Netherlands.

Steer provided Lenders’ Technical Advisory (LTA) services to support international lenders (CA-CIB, DZ Bank, KfW Ipex-Bank, MEAG Munich Ergo, NWB and SMBC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with the latter providing 50% of the loan (EUR 340m) backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a key element of the Investment Plan for Europe (also known as the Juncker Plan). Our role will continue with LTA Monitoring Services during the Construction Period (approx. 6.5 years) and during the 14-year Availability Period.

The A9 BaHo project is the final stage in the overarching Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere (SAA) corridor, designed to improve connections between Schiphol airport, the city of Amsterdam and the city of Almere, a major residential area for commuters working in Amsterdam, and it is also part of the core TEN-T network on the North Sea – Baltic corridor.

The A9 BaHo project consists of the widening from 2x3-lane to 2x4-lane of 10.5km of the existing A9 motorway section between the recently reconfigured Badhoevedorp interchange and Holendrecht interchange (A2), in a heavily built-up and congested area near Amsterdam, and includes:

• upgrading of bridges on 10 river crossings;
• a 1.34km sunken section: the deepening of the A9 along the Amstelveen city-centre, with landscaping/local traffic structures to connect the North and South of Amstelveen;
• the widening of the Schiphol Bridge, including its movable span;
• 12km of noise barriers; and
• eco-passages, water basins and drainage, landscaping and a cycle path.

Diego Tripodi, Project Director and Technical Due Diligence (TDD) Lead, said:
“As the leading independent technical advisor in PPP Transport Infrastructure projects across the world, we provide technical advice, underpinned by technical excellence, to Lenders and Investors to enable informed decision-making for successful infrastructure investments. The A9 BaHo is an amazing project that builds upon Steer’s growing portfolio of LTA/TDD commissions in the Benelux (e.g. A11 Brugge; Beatrix Lock; IJmuind Sea Lock; Eefde Lock) and around the world. It was a pleasure to provide LTA services to the Consortium, its Lenders and the other strategic advisors, and contribute to bringing this project to a successful financial close”.

Our TDD services are provided in the primary and secondary markets across Europe, India, Latin America and North America through our coordinated international team of Advisors. Contact our TDD team at TDD@steergroup.com to discuss how we could help create the conditions for a successful project finance-related transaction, whether in the primary or secondary (i.e. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) and refinancing) markets. We are uniquely placed to combine our TDD services with our Traffic and Revenue forecasting services and Financial Advisory services.

Source: https://amstelveeninzicht.nl/projects/