Meridiam Infrastructure (“Meridiam”) is pleased to announce that a Meridiam consortium has reached financial close on the Sud-Europe Atlantique High-Speed Railway Line (the “SEA High Speed Line”) in France. The concession contract has been signed between Réseau Ferré de France (“RFF”), the government entity owning the national French network and the LISEA consortium for the design, build, finance, operation and maintenance of the line and represents the largest PPP project to close in Europe since the late 1990s. The concession will have a duration of 50 years and includes the construction of a new 302 kilometer high-speed double track rail line and 40 kilometers of access tracks to the existing railway network and stations. Currently, the Paris-Bordeaux high speed rail line only exists between Paris and Tours and the line between Tours and Bordeaux is only operated as a conventional rail link. LISEA will be entitled to receive revenues through the collection of track access charges from train operators using the line from the service commencement date.

The project will comprise about 400 structures including 19 viaducts and 7 cut-and-cover tunnels, will generate 1300 employment opportunities among the 4500 employments required during the construction period and will represent 150 permanent jobs during operation. Moreover, 10% of the time dedicated to construction work will be performed under an insertion program.

The LISEA consortium comprises Vinci, CDC Infrastructure, Meridiam and AXA Private Equity and in total will contribute €773 million of equity to the project. Nine commercial banks are providing €1.7 billion in debt. The EIB will contribute €200 million of project risk debt, €200 million under the LGTT (Loan Guarantee for TEN-T projects) and a €400 million loan guaranteed by RFF. The French government will provide 25% of debt financing, amounting to €757 million, through the Direction de Fonds d’Epargne (DFE) of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, the state investment bank. The remaining €4 billion is funded through grants of which €3 billion will be provided by the French government and regions, and €1 billion will be provided by the RFF.

The project will represent Meridiam’s eleventh European investment, alongside the Limerick Tunnel in Ireland, the Vienna Ring Road in Austria, the A2 Motorway (Phases 1 and 2) in Poland, a number of LIFT health projects in the UK, the A5 Motorway in Germany, the R1 Motorway in Slovakia and the Saint-Quentin Velodrome in France which have all reached financial close, and the Nottingham Express Transit in the UK which is in preferred bidder status.