Freeths Advises International Public Partnerships on another PPP acquisition

Leading national law firm Freeths has advised long standing client International Public Partnerships (the ‘Company’), the FTSE 250 listed infrastructure investment company on the acquisition of additional interests in the Bradford and Lewisham Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects and interests in three healthcare PFI schemes. These interests have been acquired from Costain Pension Scheme Trustee Limited at a cost of c.£29.5 million.

The BSF Projects collectively comprise 14 schools providing education facilities to over 17,000 pupils across the Bradford and Lewisham areas in the UK. The investment builds on the Company’s existing portfolio of BSF projects, supporting the Company’s commitment to providing a high-quality teaching environment to pupils across the portfolio. The majority of the Lewisham and Bradford investments have been designed and built in line with BREEAM, a leading sustainability assessment method for master planning projects, infrastructure and buildings, each scoring ‘Very Good’ or ‘Excellent’.

The Three Shires schemes comprise the design, build, funding and partial operation of four small community healthcare facilities under the Three Shires banner located in East Lincolnshire, Leicester and Derbyshire. The facilities provide a range of community health services including dentistry, diagnostics and mental health rehabilitation.

The Freeths team was led by Projects and Infrastructure Partner James Larmour, supported by Jackie Heeds (Projects), Adrian Hackett (Tax)  and Nicole Hendy (Corporate).

James Larmour commented “We were delighted to support INPP on yet another acquisition in the PPP secondary market.  We have seen something of an uptick in secondary market PPP transactions and investor appetite for PPP assets remain strong – the past 24 months have demonstrated perfectly the resilience of the PPP model.”