Morais Leitão advises Vialitoral on VR1 reversal
Morais Leitão advised Vialitoral-Concessões Rodoviárias da Madeira on the structuring and formalization, completed on 28 July, of the reversal process for the public service concession covering the operation and maintenance of the VR1 highway between Ribeira Brava and Machico, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
The transaction is described as the first operation of this nature to be concluded in Portugal, involving the structuring and execution of a particularly detailed reversal protocol. The protocol covered all the legal, technical and logistical procedures required to transfer the totality of the assets and rights linked to the concession, including infrastructure, equipment, subcontracts, employees, insurance and intellectual property rights. It also provided for temporary shared-use mechanisms designed to ensure uninterrupted provision of the public service and an adequate transition to the new operator of the road.
Advisory team
The Morais Leitão team, which advised the concessionaire throughout the 26 and a half years of the concession contract’s duration, was led by partner Ana Monjardino, with the collaboration of Margarida Olazabal Cabral, Luís Miguel Monteiro and Vasco Stilwell d’Andrade. The team worked across the firm’s Infrastructure and Road Concessions, Administrative Law and Public Procurement, Labour Law and Intellectual Property practice areas.
