Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory, capital markets and principal investment arm of Macquarie Group, yesterday announced financial close on the c. EUR 850 million (USD 942 million) A9 Badhoevedorp-Holendrecht PPP Project in Amsterdam. The A9 is the final project of the Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere corridor (SAA).

The VEENIX consortium is led by Macquarie Capital and supported by Siemens and project delivery firm Count & Cooper. The consortium was selected by Rijkswaterstaat, the executive agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management in September 2019, to expand the existing A9 road near Amstelveen from three to four lanes in each direction.

VEENIX is responsible for the design, build, finance and maintenance of the project for 14 years under a design, build, finance and maintain (DBFM) contract. VEENIX is supported by FCC Construcción as a contractor. The project also involves the construction of a so called ‘sunken highway’ with three roof structures, the expansion of the Schiphol Bridge and 14km of noise pollution barriers. Once complete the road will improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and improve accessibility in the greater Amsterdam area.

Willem Stitselaar, a Senior Managing Director and Head of Macquarie Capital in the Benelux region said: “As a leading global developer of infrastructure, we invest in the early development stages to make projects happen. We have led the VEENIX consortium from inception through to financial close, applying best in class design, engineering, project execution and finance, and are proud to be developing this essential infrastructure in the Netherlands.”

Macquarie Capital also acted as the sole financial advisor and debt arranger to the consortium. The total senior funding requirement for the project is around EUR 1 billion (USD 1.1 billion), which will be provided by seven international lenders (Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DZ Bank, KfW Ipex-Bank, MEAG Munich Ergo, NWB and SMBC). The European Investment Bank also provided 50 per cent of the term loan, totaling c. EUR 340 million (USD 377 million), which is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).