Astris Finance is pleased to announce that Construtora Noberto Odebrecht, the construction arm of leading Brazilian developer Odebrecht, was appointed preferred bidder in connection with two construction projects to be developed under a PPP framework with the Government of Panama. Astris acted as bid stage advisor to Odebrecht.

The two projects, known as the Balboa Project and the Centro Histórico Project, total USD 950 m in investment. They are part of a five-project package known as the Panama City Urban Road Rehabilitation and Improvement Program. Odebrecht won two of the five projects, including the largest one, the Balboa Project which exceed USD 700 m in investment. Astris Finance advised Odebrecht in connection with all five bids.

The contractual structure entails the financing, construction and maintenance of the works by the contractor, in exchange for the issuance by the Government of works certificates giving rise to a multi-annual stream of payments. The financing structure designed by Astris consists in the securitization of the works certificates through a true sale to a pool of banks. The financing comes with a complex swap structure designed to remove the interest risk from the transaction and minimize the negative carry.

Final adjudication is expected before the end of March and Astris targets financial close for Q3/2011.