28 June 2007 - Gide Loyrette Nouel has set up the financing for Leslys, the light rail airport express link between Lyon airport and La Part-Dieu, for a total of 107 million euros:

This light rail express link is a pioneer of its kind and will provide a 25-minute link between the area of Part Dieu, in the centre of Lyon, and the airport and TGV station at Lyon Saint-Exupéry. 
 
The project is France's first express light rail concession granted by a local authority (Département of the Rhône) to be funded on a project finance basis. It comes ahead of projects like the CDG Express in the Ile-de-France, which are currently only at the bid stage.  

RhônExpress, a company constituted by the members of the project’s sponsoring consortium comprises Vinci (28.2%), Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (36.6%), Veolia Transport (28.2%), Vossloh (4.2%) and Cegelec (2.8%).  

RhônExpress will design, build, finance and operate the project, with a construction period of around three years and a concession period of 28 years.  

Calyon and Caisse Régionale du Crédit Agricole Mutuel Centre-Est acted as MLAs. Calyon has underwritten all the debt tranches. However, from the start of commercial operations, Caisse Régionale du Crédit Agricole Mutuel Centre-Est will refinance and underwrite the senior debt.  

The financing agreements between RhônExpress and the arrangers were signed on 4 June 2007 at the head offices of the Conseil Général du Rhône.  

For this operation, Gide Loyrette Nouel advised RhônExpress (Thomas Courtel, Christine Van Gallebaert, Véronique Quéruel) and the arranging banks (Alexandre Balia, Marie Bouvet-Guiramand).  The Département of the Rhône was advised by Clifford Chance (Rémy Sermier).