Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On September 29, 2022, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 14 banks — including the Bank of Communications (BoComm) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a €615.00 million EUR ($595.68 million USD) syndicated senior facilities agreement with Metro Ligero Oeste, S.A. (MLO) — a Spain-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) and concessionaire of the 14-kilometer long ML2 and ML3 light rail lines that connect Madrid's city center and the cities of Boadilla del Monte, Alcorcón and Pozuelo de Alarcón to the Madrid Region underground, suburban rail, and bus network that is jointly owned by Queenspoint S.L., an investment vehicle owned by Allianz and Danish pension fund Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegpension (ATP) (20.0% equity stake), transportation company Aleatica S.A.U. that is wholly owned by IFM Investors Pty Ltd (23.3% equity stake), and investment vehicles managed by Abrdn plc (56.7% equity stake) — for the Metro Ligero Oeste 2022 Refinancing Project. This loan was divided into two tranches: €250.00 million EUR ($242.15 million USD) Facility A1 tranche with a maturity period of seven years and nine months (7.75 years), a final maturity date of June 30, 2030, and an interest rate based on an unspecified floating rate plus a margin of 160 basis points (bps); and €365.00 million EUR ($353.53 million USD) Facility A2 tranche with a maturity period of 13 years and two months (13.166 years), a final maturity date of December 16, 2035. and an interest rate based on an unspecified floating rate plus a margin of 200 bps. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance the existing debt of MLO,, namely the existing loans provided by Spanish banks a decade prior that were used to finance the construction of the project, and to finance the entrance into interest rate swaps to hedge 100% of the floating rate debt raised. MLO holds the concession until September 2036 for the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of the 28 stations of the ML2 and ML3 light rail lines of the Madrid subway system. BoComm and ICBC each contributed €10.00 million EUR ($9.69 million USD) to the €250 million EUR Facility A1 tranche. Record ID#102035 captures BoComm's contribution. Record ID#102036 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to BoComm and ICBC, the following lenders contributed to the €250 million EUR Facility A1 tranche: Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DBJ) (€10.00 million EUR), ABANCA Corporación Bancaria, S.A. (€40.00 million EUR; $38.74 million USD), Allied Irish Banks plc (AIB) (€13.00 million EUR; $12.59 million USD), Banco de Sabadell S.A. (€22.00 million EUR; $21.31 million USD), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) (€40.00 million EUR), DZ Bank AG (€13.00 million EUR; $12.59 million USD), Ibercaja Banco, S.A. (€15.00 million EUR; $14.53 million USD), ING Bank N.V. (€15.00 million EUR), Norinchukin Bank (€20.00 million EUR; $19.37 million USD), SCOR SE (€20.00 million EUR), and Unicaja Banco S.A. (€22.00 million EUR). BoComm and ICBC did not contribute to the €365 million EUR Facility A2 tranche, which was provided by Morgan Stanley (€335.00 million EUR; $324.48 million USD) and SCOR (€30.00 million EUR; $29.06 million USD). Morgan Stanley and BBVA acted as arrangers. By October 10, 2022, there were 19 banks and institutional investors on the loan.