Case 12Public-private partnership in Nigeria
Structuring a public-private partnership concession, from procurement to financial close.
A public-private partnership lasts for decades. The agreement signed at the start decides who carries which risk for its whole life.
- Client
- Private concessionaire (confidential)
- Sector
- Public infrastructure
- Practice
- Infrastructure
- Jurisdiction
- Nigeria
The brief
Our client was the private partner in a concession to design, finance, build and operate public infrastructure under the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act.
It needed a concession that a government could award, lenders could finance, and the project could actually deliver over the full concession term.
Our advice
- 01
Procurement and compliance
Guiding the client through the procurement process and the approvals required from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
- 02
Concession agreement
Negotiating the concession agreement, including term, tariffs, performance standards, step-in rights and handback.
- 03
Risk allocation
Allocating construction, demand, foreign exchange, change-in-law and force majeure risk between the public and private partners.
- 04
Termination and compensation
Negotiating termination events and the compensation payable in each case, which lenders treat as central.
- 05
Financial close
Aligning the concession with the lenders’ requirements and supporting the project to financial close.
Outcome
The concession was structured so that the government could award it, the lenders could finance it and the client could deliver it over the full term.