Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On December 11, 2017, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 12 lenders — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a £462.31 million GBP syndicated loan agreement with Corelink Rail Infrastructure Limited (CRIL) — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and a joint venture between Infracapital and Deutsche Asset Management — for the West Midlands Rolling Stock Project. The loan was divided into three tranches: a £258.52 million GBP ($346.38 million USD) tranche with a maturity period of five years, a final maturity date of December 11, 2022, a grace period of zero years, and an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of about 155 basis points (bps), a £29.23 million GBP ($39.16 million USD) VAT facility tranche with a maturity period of four years and five minutes, a final maturity date of June 11, 2022, a grace period of zero years, and an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of about 155 bps, and a £174.56 million GBP ($233.88 million USD) equity bridge loan tranche with a maturity period of four years, a final maturity date of December 11, 2021, a grace period of zero years, and an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of about 155 bbps. In addition to ICBC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Crédit Agricole Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), BNP Paribas S.A., National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest), Lloyds Bank, Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU). 11 lenders, including ICBC, contributed £20.50 million GBP ($27.47 million USD) to the £258.52 million GBP term loan tranche, and BTMU contributed £33.01 million GBP ($44.23 million USD). Record ID#99636 captures ICBC's contribution. 11 lenders, including ICBC, contributed £1.88 million GBP ($2.52 million USD) to the £29.23 million GBP VAT Facility tranche, and BTMU contributed £8.52 million GBP ($11.41 million USD). Record ID#99637 captures ICBC's contribution. 11 lenders, including ICBC, contributed £14.10 million GBP ($18.89 million USD) to the £174.56 million GBP equity bridge loan tranche, and BTMU contributed £19.49 million GBP ($26.12 million USD). Record ID#99638 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to the loan debt, Sun Life Assurance Company and Legal & General Investment Management each provided £50.21 million GBP ($67.27 million USD) to a 32-year £100.42 million GBP private placement ($134.54 million USD) and Crédit Agricole arranged a 32-year £220.96 million GBP ($296.05 million USD) commercial bond. In total, there was £783.69 million GBP ($1.0502 billion USD) in financing for the project. The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to finance a £700 million GBP ($933.8 million USD; €793.1 million EUR) contract with Bombardier and CAF to construct 413 rail vehicles (rolling stock), specifically 80 DMU cars from CAF and 333 Aventra EMU cars from Bombardier. These cars would then be leased to the new West Midlands franchise, West Midlands Trains (WTR) — a joint venture between Abellio (70.1%), Japan Railways East (14.45%) and Mitsui (14.45%) — covering rail across the West Midlands region and rail from London Euston to Crewe and from Liverpool to Birmingham. These vehicles included 225 new electric vehicles for WTR's London services, 108 new electric vehicles for a metro-style service on the Cross City Lines in Birmingham, and 80 modern diesel vehicles for regional services around Birmingham. The vehicles were scheduled to be delivered between 2020 and 2022. The first new train entered service on October 17, 2022.