InfraPPP has recently found out that Italian investment banking firm Prothea has completed a milestone transaction in the Social/Healthcare Infrastructure sector.

Pessina Group, a primary Italian construction group, completed the transfer of an 85% shareholding in Garbagnate Salute, the company that built and now manages the Garbagnate Hospital in Lombardy, near Milan, under a Concession Agreement with the Lombardy Region. The shareholding was acquired by Equitix, a prime UK infrastructure fund.

The Garbagnate Hospital, with a capacity of 540 beds, is at the forefront in terms of technical structure, medical technologies and for the quality and type of services provided by the concessionaire. The project involved a total investment of over €130 million and it was originally financed through a combination of private and public capital and a project finance loan provided by a group of leading Italian banks.

Prior to completing the disposal to Equitix, Garbagnate Salute executed a restructuring of the funding with a financing package provided by Natixis and an institutional investor who underwrote respectively a Project Finance Loan of Euro 15 million and a Project Bond of €30 million.

It was at the time of closing the first time in Italy that a PPP project in the healthcare sector is financed through a combination of Project Bond and a Bank Project Finance Loan.

The project was awarded on 30 September 2010 and achieved commercial closure on 5 November 2010. The shareholders of Garbagnate were Pessina Costruzioni S.p.A. (majority shareholder), Carbotermo S.p.A. and CO.GE Costruzioni Generali S.p.A. The concession period runs until 2041.

The new hospital, which provides 540 beds, was developed between 2011 and 2014 for a total investment of €137 million (US$151 million). Project financing was closed In July 2013. It was provided by Banca IMI,Intesa Sanpaolo, MPS Capital Services Banca per le Imprese and Banco Popolare.

Dario Levi, Chairman of Prothea declared:

“We are proud to have participated with Pessina in such a complex transaction completed with a primary international institutional investors. This transaction testifies the quality and strength of the current Italian regulatory framework and the ability to attract international capital for the development of Italian infrastructure. We are looking forward to replicate this success with similar infrastructure PPP opportunities”

Prothea was established in 2007 as an independent investment bank based in Milan providing advisory and asset management services in the renewable energy and infrastructure sector. Over the last five years Prothea executed transactions with a total value of approximately €1.0 billion, advising primarily institutional investors both Italian and International.