In the aftermath of complicated negotiations, Parque EXPO arrived at an agreement with the rest of the Parque das Nações Marina shareholders for the purchase of their capital shares.The successful conclusion of these negotiations has provided the conditions required for the commencement of the restoration activities in the Marina.
Based upon the engineering project elaborated by PROMAN – Centre of Studies and Projects, S.A., and validated by the LNEC, the Board of Directors of the Parque das Nações Marina awarded the restoration project. The commencement of the construction activities will be immediate, and the timeframe for conclusion is set at 18 months.
The intervention, with an overall cost of 10 million Euros, forecasts the closure of the South Basin using a system of gates, the establishment of an outer harbour and the waterproofing of the breakwaters and closure of the dock systems.The southern basin of the Marina will be adapted to accommodate 580 vessels of 10, 12, and 15 meters.
This is 80 more than initially foreseen.The project also includes the reactivation of the Cape Ruivo dock system to provide cruise ship services, thus capitalising on the potential offered by the Parque das Nações. Afterwards, through the installation of between 250 and 350 mooring points, the Marina can be expanded to encompass the North Basin, which was subjected to a dragging operation completed last October.
Thus, all of the conditions are present for the Parque das Nações Marina to resume its role as an energetic centre of nautical activities, a recreational area, and as a symbolic asset of the Parque das Nações.
History
The agreement signed today puts an end to a long process whose beginning is connected to the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition. The decision to build the Marina in the Parque das Nações was made as a part of the preparations EXPO'98 event. It arose from the theme of the Exposition itself, “The Oceans – Heritage for the Future.”
Within the range of the special powers held by Parque EXPO at that time, an international tender was held for the concession of the location. This concession was to be granted for a 30 year period.
Led by the Spanish corporation Europroject, the winning consortium established the firm Marina Expo, SA. As the result of strong storms during the winter of 1997/1998, incidents occurred in the breakwaters that revealed deficiencies in their structural resistance to forces generated by strong river wave formations.
In following, Marina Expo began to neglect their duties, transforming these breakwater incidents into an excuse for all of their successive failures to fulfil their obligations as the Concessionaire. In June of 2000, Parque EXPO notified Marina Expo that their lack of compliance with the Contract had exceeded the stipulated 6 month timeframe, and that the contract was thus being rescinded.
In 2000 due diligence was performed. The resulting report verified the worrisome state of the Concessionaire’s accounts, including a level of indebtedness to the bank and other suppliers totalling over 22 million Euros. In 2002 Parque EXPO sued the concessionaire for effective rescission of the concession contract. Under the terms of the contract, as an immediate consequence of this rescission, the concession rights were revoked. A long legal battle commenced with the interposition of these legal proceedings. As the result of negotiations, in November of 2003, Parque EXPO and the largest creditors arrived at an agreement regarding a future solution for the corporation and the Concession.
Overall, the solution arrived at aligned the interests of the main creditors, BBVA, BCP and Parque EXPO, who became shareholders in the capital of the concessionaire company.
The participation of Parque EXPO in Marina Expo, which became known as Marina Parque das Nações, established the conditions needed for the main creditors to render the company feasible, thus returning an important asset to the city of Lisbon, and simultaneously resolving a suite of lawsuits.
The Parque EXPO representative on the Board of Directors of the concessionaire company proposed the performance of a market survey as part of the development of an engineering solution that would minimize the sediment levels, thus enabling regular exploration of the Marina. This proposal was accepted by the other members of the Board, and the concession company later awarded the contract for this study to PROMAN - Centre for Studies and Projects, S.A. In turn, Parque EXPO directly solicited LNEC, in the role of a recognised technically competent and capable entity, to provide oversight and technical and scientific verification services for the project. This was done with the intent to accelerate the resumption of Marina activities.
In parallel, Parque EXPO also took the initiative to develop direct contact with the majority shareholder Millennium BCP, and later extended these to the remaining shareholders. These acts were undertaken with the goal to render the Parque das Nações Marina feasible.
The agreement signed today is part of this set of initiatives and we are certain that it constitutes a fundamental basis for the rapid rehabilitation of the Parque das Nações Marina.
It is the result of lengthy negotiations which involved the Portuguese State, a Parque EXPO shareholder, which set in May the maximum value for the transaction. This amount, 8.2 million Euros, was fully complied with by Parque EXPO.
This corresponds to a reduction of over 60% in comparison to the registered book value of capital and assets by the shareholders that who now abandoned the Parque das Nações Marina company.