On 11 July 2013, the Département des Hauts-de-Seine and the project company, Tempo - Île Séguin,  entered into a 30-year partnership contract for the design, construction, financing, maintenance and operation (together with all related services) for the operation of the Music City to be built on  Seguin Island in Boulogne-Billancourt (west of Paris).

The project company Tempo - Île Séguin is a joint venture between Bouygues Bâtiment Île-de-France, Sodexo Group and investment fund InfraVia Projets (OFI Group). The architect firm, Shigeru Ban, is responsible for the design of the Music City and Bouygues Bâtiment Île-de-France will be responsible for its construction. Maintenance of the Music City and related services will be performed by Excel (Sodexo Group).

The Music City will be comprised primarily of a 1,100 seat auditorium to be used primarily for classical and contemporary music concerts and a large 4,000 seat concert hall which will be home to modern music. The concert hall will be adaptable and will be able to host up to 6,000 peoples (either seated or standing) and will be the only concert hall in France able to offer up to six shows within a 48 hour period. The Music City will also comprise recording facilities and rehearsal rooms, training rooms, a 2,660 m2 business space, catering and shops. In addition, the Music City will host two resident music groups: Laurence Equilbey’s Insula Orchestra and the Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine.

Besides the public service concerts, the Music City will be operated by S.T.S Événements, a joint venture between  TF1 and Sodexo. S.T.S Événements, which will develop a musical programme focused on excellence and innovation. The programme will be centred around culture and the arts, particularly classical music, jazz, world music and shows allying music, dance and video.

The total construction cost for the Music City will amount to EUR 170 million, of which   EUR 127 million will be financed by bank loans, arranged and subscribed by HSBC France, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Bayerische Landesbank. The construction completion date is scheduled for June 2016.

One innovative aspect of of this project is the refinancing of the construction loan by a French securitization vehicle (a fonds commun de titrisation or “FCT”) put in place by Allianz Global Investor Europe. The FCT has issued 30-year bonds, which have been fully subscribed for by Allianz funds.

This deal is the first bond financed PPP in France and will, thus, be a reference for all future infrastructure financings, which will doubtless use capital markets and institutional investors in the coming months and years.

Around 30 Gide lawyers have worked on this deal since early 2012.  Our primary role has been to act as legal advisor to Bouygues Bâtiment Île-de-France, Sodexo and OFI InfraVia since the start of the competitive dialogue procedure launched by the Département des Hauts de Seine until contract signature this Thursday. This team, led by Thomas Courtel, also comprised Marie Bouvet-Guiramand, Laetitia Lemercier, Raphaëlle Gout and Anne Framezelle, as well as Emmanuel Vital-Durand and Julien Sauvé on town planning issues and Xavier de Kergommeaux and Judith Rousvoal for securitisation. A second Gide team has been specifically mandated by TF1 to structure the operation of the Music City. This second team, led by Bénédicte Mazel, also comprised Stéphanie Berland-Basnier and Tiphanie Mareuse.

The consortium was advised by KPMG on financing issues, in particular by Gaétane Tracz.

The Département des Hauts-de-Seine was advised by TAJ, in particular by Éric de Fenoyl, Alexis Tréca and Agathe Maurer-Philippe.

Lending banks and Allianz were advised by Orrick Rambeau Martel, in particular by Jean-Luc Champy, Amaury de Feydeau, Carine Mou Si Yan and Hervé Kensisher.