CMS publishes 'PPP in Europe'

CMS publishes third-edition PPP Guide, remains "optimistic" about the future of PPP projects in Europe amid economic recovery.

Leading European legal and tax advisor CMS has published its third-edition Guide to PPP in Europe, an in-depth guide to the current conditions for public-private partnerships (PPP) across 21 European countries including The Netherlands. The Guide provides an overview of the current approach to PPP in each country, including relevant macro-economic commentary, its legal system and specific PPP-related laws including procurement laws, as well as essential information on the local financial markets.

PPP has shown itself to be a positive economic contributor in each of the 21 European countries reviewed in the Guide. "While different governments will use a variety of methods for delivering the totality of their infrastructure requirements, we believe that the economic constraints of governments make PPP a very attractive option and we remain optimistic about the future of PPP across Europe" said Frank Dufficy, Partner CMS (London) and Head of the CMS Infrastructure and Project Finance Group.

Eduard Scheenstra, lawyer in the Banking & Finance practice group, says: "After a promising growth since the 1990s the Dutch PPP market has still not reached maturity. The current financial crisis, however, has caused the Dutch government to renew its interest in PPP projects, the visible consequence of which is that it has accelerated the procurement of a large number of public works suitable for PPPs. The success of these projects is crucial for the future success of PPP in the Netherlands."

The 158-page Guide provides a chapter for each of the 21 countries including The Netherlands (full list below), each authored by CMS experts based in the local jurisdiction with extensive experience of local market conditions. It will be useful for anyone interested in PPP in their own country, as well as the increasing number of investors exploring PPP investment opportunities across Europe.

"More and more investors and businesses in the PPP industry are looking beyond their local markets for development and investment opportunities," explained Dufficy. "Our Guide helps bring together all the different approaches into a useful reference guide for anyone interested in PPP anywhere in Europe."

The Guide is available via our website. The 21 countries covered in the Guide are: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.