Allens has advised a consortium of financiers to the successful consortium which will operate Sydney's North West Rail Link – Australia's biggest public transport project.
The consortium of Australian and Asian banks are working in conjunction with the North West Rapid Transit consortium, which comprises Hong Kong's MTR Corporation, John Holland Group, Leighton Contractors, MTR, UGL Rail Services and Plenary Group.
The $3.7 billion North West Rail Link Operations, Trains and Systems contract is the biggest Public Private Partnership (PPP) in NSW history.
The North West Rail Link is the first stage of Sydney Rapid Transit, the city's new rapid transit rail network.
It will also be Australia's first fully-automated railway network and is due to open in the first half of 2019.
The Allens team on the matter was led by Partner Phillip Cornwell.
Mr Cornwell said the firm's involvement in this matter once again showed the firm's long-held expertise in PPP projects.
'Allens has been at the forefront in advising clients on PPP projects across Australia and Asia for many years,' Mr Cornwell said.
'As well as our involvement in the North West Rail Link project in NSW, the firm is also currently involved in advising the consortium chosen to build the new Ravenhall Men's Prison in Victoria, which closed this week.
'We are proud to have been involved once again in such important infrastructure projects.'
Allens Senior Associate Scott McCoy said the North West Rail Link demonstrated the willingness of the NSW Government to look at different funding structures and that PPPs in particular were becoming increasingly important.
'This looks set to continue with the proposed Sydney Light Rail PPP and Northern Beaches Hospital PPP, on which Allens is also involved,' Mr McCoy said.
'With our depth of experience on infrastructure transactions, we look forward to continuing our involvement acting for our clients and other key stakeholders on such important infrastructure projects.'
Allens legal team
Phillip Cornwell (Partner), Nigel Papi (Partner), Rob Watt (Partner), Scott McCoy (Senior Associate)
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Notes for editors.
Allens is a commercial law firm working throughout Australia and Asia. Through its integrated alliance with Linklaters it provides clients access to 40 offices in 28 countries around the world.