King & Wood Mallesons advises on MTR’s Shenzhen Metro Line 13 PPP Project

On 3 August 2020, MTR Corporation ("MTR", 00066.HK) announced that the consortium, led by its fully-owned subsidiary MTR Consulting (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. ("MTR Consulting") in collaboration with China Railway Electrification Engineering Bureau (Group) Co., Ltd. ("CREG"), was awarded the tender for Shenzhen Metro Line 13 Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) Project ("Shenzhen Metro Line 13"). This also demonstrates MTR's another success in bidding for urban mass transit PPP project that KWM has successfully advised since the firm started to represent MTR in investing in Shenzhen Metro Line 4 and its northern extension project from 2002.

Shenzhen Metro Line 13, designed to have 16 stations in total connecting the Shenzhen Bay Port, is set to be the north-south transportation backbone in central Shenzhen that supports the development of key areas such as Houhai Centre, Liuxiandong Headquarters Base and Guangming New Town. The 22.4 km metro line is expected to commence operation in 2023. The project is divided into two parts, with Part A being civil engineering work invested and constructed by Shenzhen Metro Group Co., Ltd., and Part B covering electromechanical equipment and track laying project, including rolling stock signaling, and automatic fare collection system. The total investment for Part B of Shenzhen Metro Line 13 will be approximately RMB 4.91 billion, and the project will be invested, designed and constructed by a project company jointly established by MTR Consulting, CREG and Shenzhen SEZ Construction and Development Group Co., Ltd. (a 100% state-owned company by Shenzhen Municipal Government) with the shareholding ratio of 83%, 15% and 2% respectively. The project company has been granted a 30-year operation right for Shenzhen Metro Line 13.

In this project, KWM acts as the legal adviser to MTR. Following the first cooperation between KWM and MTR back to 2002 on the investment in Shenzhen Metro Line 4, KWM has successfully advised MTR in a number of major urban mass transit projects in mainland China in the past 18 years, such as Beijing Subway Line 4, Line 14, Daxing Line, Line 16 and Line 17,, and Hangzhou Metro Line 1 and Line 5, etc. KWM's representation for MTR in winning Shenzhen Metro Line 13 project will not only extend MTR's expertise and services in operating international railway networks to Shenzhen again, but also provide a broad space for further cooperation between MTR and KWM in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

The project was led by partner Wu Ye.