Deal: Allens has advised a lender syndicate of more than 20 financiers across Asia and Australia on the refinancing of the Hills M2 Motorway (Hills M2) in Sydney.

The Hills M2 is wholly owned by Transurban and is a 21-kilometre road linking Sydney’s Lower North Shore and North West, connecting the Lane Cove Tunnel with the Westlink M7.

Value: $851 million.

Area: Banking and finance.

Key players: The Allens team was led by partner and head of project finance Michael Ryan, senior associate Brooke Muggeridge and lawyer Tom Harrison.

The tax team was led by partner Martin Fry and associate Lijia Yang.

Deal significance: In what is a first for a toll road project financing in Australia, the $815 million refinancing was undertaken by a syndication process in the Asian loan market, jointly arranged by MUFG Bank and National Australia Bank through 10 and 15-year loan facilities.

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“Allens has advised lenders on Hills M2 for decades and we are delighted to advise the lenders on this latest refinancing and witness the evolution of the funding structure in respect to this significant Sydney-based toll road,” said Mr Ryan.

“Given the number of lenders involved and the fact it is the first financing of its type for toll roads in Australia, this was an inherently complicated deal and closure of it is a credit to all involved given the current volatility in global financial markets as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Contractual close was reached on 25 March 2020 and financial close was achieved on 2 April 2020.