Fortis Merchant Banking finances the renovation of the Ministry of Finance building (13/12/2006)

Safire, Fortis and the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank have successfully closed 26-year EUR 105 million senior debt facilities for the Dutch Ministry of Finance Public Private Partnership (PPP) project outsourced by the Government Buildings Agency. 

 The Safire consortium consists of leading market players in the upcoming Dutch PPP market, including ABN AMRO, Strukton, ISS Nederland, GTI and Burgers Ergon. Fortis has been selected as Facility Agent and Lead Arranger for the entire financing, and the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank will provide a capital adequacy-exempt loan after completion of the building work.

The project involves the renovation of the building of the Dutch Ministry of Finance in The Hague and the chosen contract between Safire BV and the Dutch State is DBFMO (Design, Build, Finance, Maintain and Operation). The project is a pilot project, being the first in a series of DBFMO government accommodation projects in the Netherlands. Tenders have already started for new PPP projects with the same structure, such as Rotterdam-Airport (detention centre), Doetinchem (Tax Office) and Groningen (IB Group/Tax Office).

“This transaction is completely in line with the ambition of Fortis to become a prominent player in the upcoming Dutch PPP market”, says Daan van der Heijden, Director of Fortis PPP-Infrastructure Finance. “We expect that the number of PPP projects in the Netherlands will grow over the next few years in a number of sectors”.

The international PPP-Infrastructure Finance team of Fortis Global Export & Project Finance is currently focussing on Europe and North America. The international track record of Fortis in PPP and Infrastructure Finance is quickly growing, which is demonstrated by this role in this first PPP project for a Dutch government ministry.

About Merchant Banking

Merchant Banking is the internationally operating wholesale bank of Fortis. As a focussed and worldwide organisation, we provide tailored financial services to corporate and institutional clients. We are active in several areas, including treasury, fixed income, energy , commodities and equities (including derivatives and structured products), corporate finance, capital markets, cash management, asset financing, project finance, private equity and structured credits. Besides, we are specialised in the areas of fund administration, global custody, securities lending and clearing services.
GEPF is Fortis Merchant Banking's competence centre for long-term export and project finance. It is specialised in the structuring and underwriting of financing of large investment projects in emerging markets as well as PPP/Infrastructure financing in developed markets. GEPF represents a global but fully integrated international team of more than ninety specialists present in Belgium (Head Office), Czech Republic, Dubai, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, UK and the USA. It also benefits from the support of representative offices in Algeria, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam.
For more information, contact Karin ter Voort Tel: +31 (20) 527 1646

About Safire BV

Safire, a consortium comprising ABN AMRO, Burgers Ergon, GTI, ISS and Strukton, will carry out the renovation of the Dutch Ministry of Finance through Public Private Partnership (PPP). Safire will pool all the knowledge and experience of its parties in order to facilitate this innovative approach for the entire duration of the project and distinguishes itself by a transparent approach, high-quality technical knowledge and its capacity to make constructive suggestions for creative and innovative solutions. The consortium is supported by the architects Meyer & van Schooten of Amsterdam.