Financial Close for North West Rail Link PPP
Published 18 September 2014SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES – Plenary Group is pleased to announce it has finalised private sector financing for the A$3.7 billion Operations, Trains and Systems (OTS) contract for the North West Rail Link project (NWRL).
Plenary Group is the financial sponsor and capital arranger for the Northwest Rapid Transit (NRT) consortium which reached contractual close with the New South Wales State Government earlier this week and financial close today.
The OTS contract is a 15 year Public Private Partnership project - the largest in the State’s history as well as the largest of the three delivery contracts for the NWRL.
Mr Paul Oppenheim, Managing Director, Plenary Group, said that moving from contractual close to financial close within the same week was a testament to the quality of the project and the overwhelming support it has gained within the financing team.
Mr Oppenheim said this support was a result of a highly effective Government process and clarity of purpose amongst the NRT consortium members.
“This outcome is due to clear decision making from both the public and private sector teams and a mutual determination to ensure this project commences on time and remains on track”, Mr Oppenheim said.
The Project’s total private capital is over A$1.8 billion, including senior debt of A$1.55 billion.
NRT’s debt will be drawn through a 7.5 year facility from three of Australia’s major banks in ANZ, NAB and Westpac as well as international banks Standard Chartered, BTMU, ING, HSBC, Mizuho and OCBC.
Equity financing will come from three of NRT’s consortium members MTR Corporation (20%), Leighton Contractors (10%) and Plenary Group (10%) and will also include equity investments from Palisade Investment Partners (20%), Partners Group (20%) and Marubeni Corporation (20%).
The equity group has been selected for the experience and capabilities they bring to transport projects and their long term commitment to local partnerships.
When it commences operations in the first half of 2019, the North West Rail Link will deliver a 36 km rapid transit service connecting Chatswood on Sydney’s North Shore to the city’s north western suburbs. It will include the building of 15km twin railway tunnels, eight new railway stations, converting five existing railway stations to rapid transit status and 4,000 commuter car parking spaces.
On commencement it will operate 15 trains per hour during peak periods; a train every 4 minutes. It will be Australia’s first ‘turn up and go’ rapid transit network and will deliver a level of customer service and safety never before seen in Australian public transport.
Chris Whitefield
Executive Director, Communications
+61 3 8888 7754
+61 418 530 806
chris.whitefield@plenary.com