Complex construction projects often require complex and stage-specific financing solutions. From loans to guarantees to mezzanine transactions – there are as many ways to secure financing for projects and endeavours in need of cash or collaterals – as there are opportunities for investors looking to increase their return. Choosing a suitable model invariably requires a 360° analysis of all relevant circumstances, with legal and regulatory issues only constituting one – albeit important – aspect. Putting one’s choice in place, carrying out a due diligence, and enforcing the deal once closed, is a matter for experienced counsel who routinely handle financial transactions.
Just as project finance requires strong collaterals, so does the construction stage. Employers must routinely issue payment guarantees to contractors. Contractors, in turn, must issue bid guarantees, performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees, and retention guarantees. Typically, construction contracts contain detailed rules about such guarantees. Disputes may arise, for example, if one party calls the guarantee while the other denies that the facts justify the call of the guarantee.
BODENHEIMER have vast experience in advising investors and other businesses on financing issues, loan agreements, bank guarantees and related disputes.
BODENHEIMER Representative Matters as Parties’ Counsel
Advised a private Belgian investor on a mezzanine investment worth about EUR 7m for the purchase and development of flats in Berlin-Charlottenburg
Advised a Turkish investor on a mezzanine investment worth some EUR 15m in relation to a high-profile construction project in Berlin
Represented a German-Turkish construction consortium in a dispute against a Turkish bank arising out of a guarantee letter subject to the ICC URDG
Represented a German supplier of metal facades in a dispute arising out of a CISG contract, in connection with a public infrastructure project in central Asia, against the Turkish buyer before the German state courts, including in interim relief
Advised a Contractor from the UAE in a dispute with a German subcontractor and a German bank following our client’s call of the subcontractor’s performance bond
Established several German special-purpose vehicles for different international construction projects
Advised a German railway business in a dispute with a Luxembourg-based financial institution about performance guarantees regarding train leasing contracts
Advised an international project developer on loans worth EUR 70m from a German bank for the construction of 200+ flats in Berlin
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