Bevan Brittan - Press Releases

Bevan Brittan Advises on Award-Winning Project

Bevan Brittan has been closely involved in Canada's Abbotsford Hospital and Cancer Centre Project; recently named as North American PPP Deal of the Year 2004 in Project Finance magazine.

The announcement has delighted Bevan Brittan LLP partner, David Hunter. "As leader of the Bevan Brittan team providing strategic advice to Partnerships British Columbia (Partnerships BC) in relation to the project, I am only too aware of the enormous efforts made on all sides to ensure this deal made it successfully through to financial close." David commented. "The award is appropriate recognition of those efforts."

Project Finance’s Deals of the Year recognize examples of innovation, persistence and achievement in the financing of large-scale infrastructure projects. The magazine’s prestigious awards are widely regarded as the most independent and thorough assessment of the global PPP market. The Project Finance awards cover all industries and are chosen based on the magazine’s editorial assessment of the structural details of the partnership agreement.

The Abbotsford project is the largest health PPP scheme in Canada to date and will provide a 300 bed, state-of-the-art hospital which will replace the ageing acute care hospital in Abbotsford in 2008. The new facility will provide enhanced and specialised care to 150,000 people in the greater Abbotsford area, and up to 330,000 in Fraser Valley. The capital value of the scheme is Cn$460m (£201.6m).

A consortium led by ABN Amro were appointed preferred bidder in July and the parties worked to finalise the documentation and produce a deal which is estimated to deliver savings of Cn£39m over the life of the project. The project reached financial close in December - comparing favourably to a number of other Canadian PPP projects which have stalled or floundered in procurement."

David Hunter is clear about the project's successful ingredient. "It was the determination on both sides to reach a workable solution. ABN drove their consortium forward and provided both debt and equity to the project. On the part of the Province, there was Partnerships BC with the resource and project management skills to keep the deal on track. This is an advantage British Columbia has given itself over the other Canadian provinces and why it is the leader in the PPP field in North America at the moment.

Bevan Brittan provided some strategic input at the early stages of the project and we were delighted to be able to provide a presence in Vancover and contribute actively during those intense and exciting final stages."

Stuart Whitfield, Bevan Brittan Chief Executive added: “This award demonstrates Bevan Brittan’s expertise in the international PPP arena. Whilst the PPP market in this country remains strong, due to our experience in dealing with some of the most complex issues and our ability to adapt we are increasingly being called on to provide advice in countries where the market is not as advanced.“