Eiffage, through its Concessions division, has reached financial close and has signed the contract for the Aix-Faculties District Campus PPP project in Marseille, France.

The debt financing has been provided by three commercial banks: Banco Santander, Mizuho Bank. Ltd and NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank.

The total investment for the project including tax is estimated at €120 million (US$165 million). The project financing consisted of €78 million of debt and €8 million of equity. 

The public-private partnership agreement between the University of Aix-Marseille and the Eiffage led consortium was signed on 6 May 2014.

The project's design and construction phase is being conducted by a consortium made up of Eiffage Construction and Eiffage Energie in partnership with architectural firms CARTA Associés, Tangram Architectes and Espace Architecture International.

The project will be developed on a design, financing, construction, renovation and maintenance basis for a period of 25 years. The  property development project, which covers an area of 45,500 sq. m, concerns 30,000 students. It involves:

• redevelopment of outdoor spaces,
• renovation of the library of the Faculty of Law,
• construction of a university dining hall in the college of law and political science,
• renovation of the main building of the college of letters and
• construction of a parking

The construction work is scheduled to start in January 2015. The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2017.

This is the fourth PPP that Eiffage has closed under French Ministry of Higher Education and Research's Operation Campus Programme.