The green line is being developed by an Electra/Dan/Alstom consortium under a 25-year public-private partnership scheme awarded in 2021. The financing will comprise the long-term tranche by the EIB, a long-term NIS1bn (US$272.3m) portion syndicated to Israeli banks led by Bank Mizrachi and Bank Hapoalim, and a NIS4bn bridge financing portion. The bridge debt comprises NIS1.3bn from Israeli commercial banks, NIS1.3bn from a club of European lenders, and NIS1.3bn-equivalent to be confirmed by the EIB.

The project was expected to close financing in June but has been delayed because of the EIB’s involvement in the debt provision, as the European bank’s completion of investment assessments takes longer than other lenders, a source told PFI.

The EIB said that the project is consistent with the EU/Israel Action Plan, which was approved in 2005 to integrate Israel into European policies and programmes and expires in 2025. The NIS4bn project financing for the purple line, the other rail project under development in Tel Aviv, is on track to close by the end of June with HSBC and Leumi Bank leading the debt (see PFI 740). The project is being developed under a PPP by Spanish firm CAF in consortium with Israel’s Shapir Engineering.