Paul Hastings Advises Lenders on $406 Million Financing of Colombia Accesos Norte II Toll Road Project

Paul Hastings LLP served as New York legal advisor to J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, MUFG Bank Ltd. and Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional S.A. (FDN) as lenders in connection with the approximately $406 million sustainable project financing of the Accesos Norte Fase II toll road concession in Bogotá, Colombia. The borrower, Concesionaria Ruta Bogotá Norte S.A.S., is sponsored by Ashmore Group and OHLA and was awarded the concession by Colombia's National Infrastructure Agency under the Fifth Generation PPP program.

The financing comprises a hybrid mini-perm credit facility and a Letter of Credit facility with reborrowing capacity, structured as two tranches: (i) a synthetic COP term loan facility of approximately $207 million, provided by J.P. Morgan Securities PLC (as Hedge Coordinator for the embedded hedging arrangements) and MUFG Bank Ltd., and (ii) a COP term loan facility of approximately $199 million, provided by FDN. The facilities are structured as a sustainable loan in accordance with the LMA Sustainable Loan Principles.

The Accesos Norte Fase II project is an approximately 18-kilometer toll road concession along Bogotá's Autopista Norte corridor, one of Colombia's highest-traffic suburban routes with approximately 40,000 vehicles per day. The project will expand the corridor with additional mixed-traffic and dedicated rapid transit lanes, improving connectivity between Bogotá and northern Cundinamarca municipalities. The 29-year concession has an estimated total investment of approximately $351 million.

Energy & Infrastructure partner Alexandro M. Padrés led the Paul Hastings team, which also included attorneys from the firm’s Real Estate, Employee Benefits, Tax, Fintech and Securities & Capital Markets practices, including partners Jason Ertel, LK Greenbacker and Grissel Mercado, of counsel Rob Wilson and Mehran Massih and associates Ashley Acosta, Irene Anton Espinosa, Ashley Burke, Sofia Fuentes, Alan Huang, Paul Juang-Korol, Bethany Krystek, Lucas Casale Riveros and Matt Rutchik.

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