Better Chance Advises on the Largest Infrastructure Project in Russia

24 December 2024 On 20 December 2024, the financial closing of the Moscow - St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway (HSR) project took place. As a result, among other transaction documents, the syndicated facility (loan) agreements were signed to finance the project. Better Chance acted as legal counsel drafting and negotiating the concession, loan and security and other transaction documents.
 
The Moscow - St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway is the largest concession project in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe with a unique financing scheme: the amount of extra-budgetary investments exceeds RUB 1.7 trillion and the maturity of the borrowed funds is up to 25 years, which is an unprecedented achievement for the Russian financial market. Fifteen organisations signed the transaction documents, totaling over 1,000 signatures across more than 10,000 pages of various documents. The concession agreement was signed on 5 July 2024, and it took less than 6 months to formalise all relations between the project participants into legally binding contracts - a record-breaking timeframe for such a volume of documents.
 
Better Chance team provides comprehensive legal support for the project, including development of the organisational and legal model and financing model adapted to the scale and complexity of the project. Concession, direct agreement and other infrastructure matters were handled by the Infrastructure and PPP practice team represented by partners Alexander Dolgov and Konstantin Makarevich, associates Valeria Volynkina, Danila Lukianchenko, Nikolay Gostev, Nadezhda Lopyreva, Yakov Fomin and Petr Savelyev. The banking and finance team, led by partners Vladimir Barbolin and Kirill Miller, also included partners Victoria Bortkevicha and Jan Galin, senior associates Arina Kachanova and Marina Kizenkova, associates Evgenia Marchenko, Arsen Safaryan, Victoria Bochkareva, Ilya Garipov, Luiza Shams, Ivan Nabotov and Damir Akhmetov. Partner Artem Tamaev and associates Vladimir Barkovoi, Georgy Kurgansky and Alexandra Chernykh advised on corporate law matters. Partner Ella Omelchenko and associates Anna Aldoshkina and Alexander Borin advised on construction and contracting matters.
 
 
Alexander Dolgov, Head of the Infrastructure and PPP practice:
 
“This is not just the largest infrastructure project in Russia, but also an indicator of the maturity of the legal and financial systems that allow the realisation of such large-scale initiatives involving public and private resources. We are pleased to contribute to laying the foundation for the development of high-speed rail transport in Russia”.
 
Vladimir Barbolin, Partner of the Banking and Finance practice:
 
“The Moscow - St. Petersburg HSR project demonstrates how the compilation of professionalism, innovative approaches and high-quality legal expertise combined with a deep understanding of the project and the market by the parties can make possible the realisation of a national-scale project. We are proud that Better Chance competencies and synergy of its practices allow us to support such an unprecedented and truly unique project in all its diversity”.
 
Kirill Miller, Partner of the Banking and Finance practice:
 
“The Moscow - St. Petersburg HSR project is an unprecedented deal for the Russian market both in terms of the amount of investment and complexity of the project, and the timeframe for achieving financial closing. We are proud to have contributed to the realisation of a national-scale project and thank all project participants for their trust!”
 
 
The 679-kilometer-long Moscow - St. Petersburg HSR will connect the country's two largest cities, providing maximum travel speed and new opportunities for the social and economic development of the regions. The route will include 12 stops and pass through the Moscow, Novgorod, Tver and Leningrad regions. The construction began in 2024, with its planned operational launch in April 2028.