Deals

Fiera Axium achieves financial close of Montréal education PPP

Canadian infrastructure fund manager Fiera Axium has reached financial closing of a public-private partnership with the Québec government to build a state-of-the-art educational facility in Montréal. Fiera’s investment - alongside Paris-based fund manager Meridiam Infrastructure - is the first from its new fund, which recently posted a first close on C$175m.

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Fiera Axium Infrastructure, a Canadian infrastructure fund manager, has reached the successful closing of a first PPP with the Québec government. The project represents the first phase of the Centre hospitalier de l’Universite’ de Montreal (CHUM) modernisation project – a 68,800 m2  research centre project that will accommodate 110 research teams, currently located across six different sites.

“The successful closing of our fund’s first investment represents a significant milestone for us. It has occurred less than three months following our fund’s initial closing which totalled C$175 million,” said Pierre Anctil, president and CEO of Fiera Axium Infrastructure in a statement.

The project is being funded through a combination of senior debt and equity, as well as construction payments to be made by CHUM.  Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada LP and co-investors contributed 60 percent of the equity required for the project while the remaining 40 percent came from Paris-based Meridiam Infrastructure, which has been an active investor in North American PPPs through projects such as the North Tarrant Expressway and Port of Miami Tunnel.  

Meanwhile, the Québec government has announced that after the completion of the project, Accés Recherche Montréal LP – [Fiera’s single purpose project company] – will receive a stable revenue stream in the form of monthly availability payments from CHUM supported by an undertaking from the Québec government. Availability payments are a regulated public contribution paid to concessionaires for making leased assets available in good condition.

Accés Recherche Montréal LP will lead a consortium that will design, build, finance and maintain the new CHUM Research Centre for a period of 30 years.

While design & construction services for the project have been subcontracted to a joint venture comprised of the two largest construction firms in Québec – Pomerleau and Verreault –  the maintenance of the project has been given to Honeywell, the Canadian service provider.   

The state-of-the-art facility located in downtown Montréal will also house a new integrated centre for education and training, office space for the CHUM management staff and other administrative services.