On 25 October 2010, Crédit Agricole CIB signed the financing of the 35-year PPPPublic-Private Partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. contract between a consortium led by Bouygues and the city of Marseille (France). The project, which will be carried out by the project company AREMA*, consists in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of the Stade Vélodrome de Marseille and the Delort Stadium in Marseille, as well as their surroundings.

Crédit Agricole CIB acted as mandated lead arranger, along with Natixis, Caisse d’Epargne and Crédit Mutuel ARKEA.

The estimated total project cost is EUR 270 million of which EUR 140 million will be financed by senior debt. A part of the financing will also be provided by the French State, the municipality, the urban community, the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur’s Regional Council and the Bouches du Rhône area’s local council.

                                                                                              
   View of the new Stade Vélodrome de Marseille – Photo credit : MIR


The project is part of France’s successful bid to organise 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. It mainly aims to modernise the Vélodrome Stadium by increasing its capacity from 58,000 to 67,000 seats and by providing a roof to cover all four stands of the stadium. The works will be conducted without closing the stadium and will start in summer 2011. Due to be completed in summer 2014, the new stadium will be fully operational for the UEFA Euro 2016.

Crédit Agricole CIB led the project on behalf of the Crédit Agricole Group, with Caisse Régionale Alpes Provence, Caisse Régionale Centre France. Auxifip/Crédit Agricole Leasing also participated in the financing.

“Crédit Agricole CIB overcame challenging conditions where the whole financing was organised in six weeks. The Bank confirmed its successful track record in the financing of sports stadiums together with Crédit Agricole Regional Banks”, comments Franck Bervillé, Senior Banker.

Beyond the above transaction, Crédit Agricole CIB also acted as mandated lead arranger for the financing of the Singapore Sports Hub PPP, closed in 2010 with Bouygues as main sponsor.
In the meantime, the Bank financed the construction of Le Mans Stadium (MMArena) for Vinci. 

This landmark transaction, in the French city of football, further confirms Crédit Agricole CIB’s leadership on the Infrastructure finance market and demonstrates the Bank’s expertise.


*AREMA’s shareholders are the Caisse des Dépôts, the Caisse d’Epargne Provence-Alpes-Corse, FIDEPPPFirst French investment fund dedicated to the financing of infrastructures in public-private partnership, InfraVia, GFC Construction and EXPRIMM. Bruno Botella will be the chairman of the company. AREMA will benefit from the expertise of the following architect firms SCAU (Maxime Barbier, Bernard Cabannes, Luc Delamain, François Gillard, Michel Macary, Aymeric Zublena) and DIDIER ROGEON ARCHITECTE, together with the following consulting engineers IOSIS, GARCIA Ingénierie and BETEREM Ingénierie.