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A consortium led by Meridiam and CDC has closed financing for the 50-year concession contract of the "Calais Port 2015" project.

The total project investment is estimated at €863 million (US$946.2 million). The financiers are Allianz and third-party investors by underwriting a bond issue of €504 million and the European Investment Bank. Additionally, equity investors will contribute €89 million and €270 million will come from public funds. 

The parties involved in the project are the Côte d'Opale Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Port of Dunkirk, CDC Infrastructure and Meridiam.

The Design & Build joint venture formed by Bouygues, Spie Batignolles and Jan de Nul.

The concession transforms the sites of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais into a single port and will enable the completion of the "Calais Port 2015" project. The project involves:

• the creation of a new seawall about 3 kilometers long and a dock with a surface area of 90 hectares, which will be essential to any development of the port of Calais;
• the creation of 44 hectares of a new quay using material dredged from the dock;
• the construction of berths for the latest-generation mega-ferries;
• the developments required for road and rail connections;
• a rail - road - sea terminal.

The aim is to balance the development of the two ports by promoting their complementary business activities and the complementarity in general between the ports on the Côte d'Opale seaboard and the Channel Tunnel.

The project is the sixth investment of Meridiam in France where the firm has invested more than € 11.4 billion in public infrastructure projects.

During this month Atlandes, the project company for the A63 motorway PPP projectin a 104 km motorway in South West France, has refinanced the initial debt package put in place in January 2011. Atlandes signed a new €860 million (US$945.9 million) financing agreement, for a period of 25 years.