On 21 December 2018, VINCI reached financial close and took over the management of Belgrade Airport Nikola Tesla, marking an important milestone for the project finance market in Serbia. With more than EUR 400m of loan commitments, it is the country’s largest project financing to date. BDK Advokati acted as Serbian legal counsel to the lenders which included IFC, EBRD, Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and Societe de Promotion et de Participation pour la Cooperation Economique SA (Proparco), as well as six commercial banks.
The project, with a total cost of close to EUR 1bn, is being developed by VINCI Airports Serbia d.o.o., a company owned by VINCI Airports SAS. Under the concession agreement with the Government of Serbia and AD Aerodrom Nikola Tesla, VINCI has been granted the right to operate the national airport for 25 years.
Partner Dragoljub Cibulić commented “This landmark project is likely to be used as an important precedent for future regional infrastructure projects. Unique complexities and extremely tight timeline to complete the transaction make the success even greater. BDK team is proud to be a part of it”.
Allen & Overy acted as international legal counsel to the lenders. The BDK team was led by senior partner Dragoljub Cibulić. The finance team included senior partner Tijana Kojović and senior associate Dragoljub Sretenović. Advice on construction law matters was provided by partner Milan Dakić. Further support was provided by Janko Nikolić, Djordje Zejak and Igor Matić.
