Norton Rose Fulbright advised several lenders on the EUR 331 million financing of the project to expand and operate Zagreb Airport in Zagreb.
The loan, totaling EUR 198 million, was provided by Deutsche Bank, Unicredit Bank Austria, Zagrebacka Banka, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to ZAIC-A consortium, who are investing €133 million in the project. The consortium was awarded a 30 year design, build, finance, operation and maintenance concession in April 2012 and owns the airport’s operating company Medunarodna Zracna Luka Zagreb (MZLZ).
The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by banking partner Jon Ellis. Peter Hall, partner in London, and Martin Gdanski, partner in Paris, also worked on the deal. Jon Ellis, commented: “[..]The construction of the new terminal will significantly increase capacity at Zagreb Airport and we are pleased the financing has been brought to a successful close”.
The other firms involved were Madirazza & Partners, who provided Croatian legal advice to the lenders; Pinsent Masons and Porobija & Porobija, who were legal advisers to the sponsors; Freshfields Brukhaus Deringer, who advised the EIB on EIB specific aspects of the transaction; and Clifford Chance, who advised the IFC on their equity investment and intercreditor issues.
