Portugal signs the first concession and initial financing tranche for the Lisbon–Porto high-speed rail line for €2.3b: Advisors
On July 29, 2025, the concession contract was signed for the construction, financing, and operation of the first section of the new high-speed rail line that will connect Porto with Oiã. This project, developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, represents a total investment of €2.3 billion and marks the largest project finance operation in Portugal’s history.
The concession was awarded by Infraestruturas de Portugal to the company Avan Norte – Gestão da Ferrovia de Alta Velocidade, made up of a consortium of developers comprising the Mota-Engil, Serena Industrial Partners, Teixeira Duarte, Casais, Alves Ribeiro, Conduril, and Gabriel Couto groups.
The highly complex financing model, structured in line with international best practices, was secured by the European Investment Bank (EIB) alongside a diverse group of institutional investors, commercial banks, and insurance companies. These included Portuguese banks such as Novo Banco, Millennium BCP, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, and Caixa BI; international institutions such as Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, BBVA, La Banque Postale, and Deutsche Bank; and insurance companies including Canada Life, Metlife, Manulife, MEAG, and LBPAM. For many of these institutions, this marks their first investment in the Portuguese infrastructure sector.
Advisors
In the legal field, the promoters were advised by the firms CS’Associados and Vieira de Almeida (VdA), whose involvement spanned all phases of the project, from the preparation and submission of the tender proposal to the structuring and negotiation of an extensive contractual package that included more than 60 different agreements. The work required a multidisciplinary approach, with the participation of teams specialised in corporate, financial, contractual and regulatory law.
At VdA, the advice was led by partners Paulo de Barros Baptista and Teresa Empis Falcão, with the participation of partners Ricardo Bordalo Junqueiro, André Gaspar Martins, and Francisco Cabral Matos, as well as associates Inês Perestrello, Beatriz Pereira da Silva, Vanessa Cardoso Pires, Rita Costa Lima, and Pedro Costa Cabral. On behalf of CS’Associados, the advisory services were led by partners Maria Castelos and Mafalda Ferreira, with the main collaboration of Nuno Saldanha de Azevedo and João da Costa Cabral Tomás, and with the participation of André Salgado de Matos, Gonçalo Machado Borges, Filipa Veiga Gomes, Marta Ramalho Gomes, Mariana Silva Pereira, Filipe Rocha, and Joana Alves Trindade.
The financiers were advised by PLMJ on Portuguese law and by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (HSF Kramer) on English law. The European Investment Bank also received independent advice from Linklaters.
The PLMJ team was led by Pedro Siza Vieira, partner in the Banking, Finance and Capital Markets practice, together with Maria Zagallo, partner in the Public Law practice. Luis Miguel Vasconcelos, coordinating associate in the Banking and Finance department, and Pedro de Almeida Fernandes, associate in the same department, also participated in the transaction. Lawyers from the Corporate/M&A and Tax departments also collaborated on the transaction.
