Eversheds will advise the Agence Publique pour l’Immobilier de la Justice (APIJ), the Ministry’s dedicated entity for large-scale real estate projects, on the preparation, the bid procedure and the resulting PPP contracts for the building of prison and other judicial buildings in France.
Boris Martor, partner in Eversheds’ projects group in Paris, said there was “hundreds of millions of euros of investment” needed in the justice sector and that this deficit will be met with PPP projects.
France was one of the first countries to embrace PPP in this sector and since 1994 has seen three projects, encompassing nine new facilities, going through the market.
Martor says he is confident the financial markets have improved enough to see new projects secure financing. “There was a suspension of projects during the first trimester of 2009 but we are now seeing projects go through to financial close,” he said.