Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has advised the VIS Group on the refinancing of a public-private partnership project involving the construction of 12 social infrastructure facilities in Yakutsk through the placing of secured social bonds worth over RUB 5.6 billion. The refinancing was arranged by BKS, Otkritie Bank, DOM.RF Bank, and Sovcombank.
According to EPAM, "in 2015 a VIS Group entity entered into a public-private partnership agreement [involving the] construction of schools, kindergartens, a library, and a contemporary art and culture center in Yakutsk as the private partner. Sakha (Yakutia) Republic and Yakutsk City jointly acted as the public partner." According to the firm, the refinancing was carried out through the issuance of bonds by the SFO for Social Development special purpose vehicle, "secured by the public partner’s liquidity under the PPP agreement."
Three tranches of bonds with varied priorities were placed, EPAM reports, adding that "Expert RA rated the senior-tranche bonds as ruA.sf, and the mezzanine-tranche bonds as ruBBB+.sf." According to the firm, "the senior- and mezzanine-tranche bonds are the first ones in Russia to have been qualified by the Moscow Exchange as social bonds of the Sustainable Development Sector. Proceeds from the placement of bonds have been used to refinance the project, which provided for the construction of the social infrastructure facilities."
EPAM's team was led by Partner Dmitriy Glazounov and included, among others, Senior Associate Vladimir Goglachev.
