L.F. Wade International Airport Redevelopment Project reaches financial close

On March 15, 2017, the L.F. Wade International Airport Redevelopment Project in Bermuda achieved commercial and financial close. This project is being implemented under a framework agreement between the Government of Bermuda and the Canadian Commercial Corp. (CCC). Under the agreement, CCC will, through its subcontract with a subsidiary of Aecon Group, design and construct a new passenger terminal and related infrastructure under a fixed price, date-guaranteed design and construction contract valued at US$274 million.

Bermuda Skyport Corp. Ltd. (Skyport), a wholly owned subsidiary of Aecon Concessions, financed the design and construction with a US$285-million fixed-coupon US private placement and will assume operation and maintenance of the airport over a 30-year concession term. Construction of the new terminal begins in April 2017 and is expected to take approximately 40 months.

Bennett Jones LLP served as Chief Legal Advisor to the Government of Bermuda with a team led by Duncan Card in Bermuda, and including Paul Blundy, Leonard Griffiths, Art Peltomaa, Peter Westcott, Carl Cunningham, Preet Bell and Michael DeFaria in Toronto.

Aecon Group was represented by Aecon Group’s Associate General Counsel, Colin Sam; and externally by Jody Aldcorn, Linda Brown, Byran Gibson, Jim Janetos, Pavan Jawanda, Ailbish Skinner, Diego Beltran, Meredith Bragg, Liezl Behm, Samantha Cunliffe, Joy Ren, Patrick Beechinor and Erin O’Callaghan at McCarthy Tétrault LLP; by David Cooke, Niel Jones, Christian Luthi, Francesca Fox, Stephanie Hanson, Jennifer Panchaud and William Cooper at Conyers Dill & Pearman; and by Riccardo Leofanti and Ryan Hickey at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

Canadian Commercial Corp. was represented by Assistant General Counsel, Wendy Dempsey and Andrew Prevost.

The US private placement investors were represented by Mayer Brown LLP and Appleby (Bermuda) Limited. The team from Mayer Brown comprised Douglas Doetsch, Daniel Whitmore and Ian Lindsay. The team from Appleby was led by Steven Rees Davies and Sally Penrose, and included Tim Faries, John Wasty, Scott Swainson, Mike Hanson, Sarita Ebbin, Claudia Eisenberg, Ashley Fife, Megan Denos, Jessica Almeida, Matt Carr, Matt Godfrey and Jamie Rego.

The Bermuda Airport Authority was represented by MJM Limited, with a team including Peter Martin and Jane Collis. The Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority was represented by Fozeia Rana-Fahy, also at MJM Limited.

Rob Ripin and Kristy Tholanikunnel of Hogan Lovells US LLP acted on behalf of The Bank of New York Mellon as Offshore Collateral Agent and Insurance Trustee.

Lawyer(s)

Duncan C. Card Paul D. Blundy Leonard J. Griffiths Peter G. Westcott Colin K. Sam Linda G. Brown Byran Gibson Jim Janetos