Project finance law firms R&A Legal and India Law Services have advised on the Rs 970 crore ($210m) term loan and bank guarantee between Navayuga Engineering Company Limited and Bank of Baroda led bank consortium for the financing and development of India’s largest private sector port at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

R&A partner Rajiv Roy along with associates Ashish Rana and Rohit Anand Das acted for the borrowers Navayuga group that floated a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to execute a Build-Operate-Share-Transfer (BOST) agreement they entered into with the state government.

India Law Services Delhi partner K A Najmi and associate Abhijit Roy represented the lender consortium which consisted of a group of eight banks.

The all-weather deep water seaport is slated for completion in two phases. The loans pertain to financing of the current phase of the project that has already been finished while construction of phase two is underway.

The deal was closed on 19 August 2010.

“The legal work involved was structuring of loan terms and agreements with loan syndicators and lender banks, and providing legal opinion on various issues relating to banking/financial laws, environmental laws, labour laws, Coastal Zone Regulations, international maritime and sea protection protocols etc,” said R&A Legal.

The port which is an iron ore exports hub has 42 berths capable of handling 200,000 dwt super cape size vessels.