Angel Trains Group, through its subsidiary The Great Rolling Stock Company Limited, has completed its long-term debt refinancing programme.
The final part of the Group’s debt rescheduling was concluded with a loan agreement which included a five-year £450m facility and a £400m seven-year facility, ‘de-risking’ the business ahead of schedule and securing a healthy long-term financial base for Angel Trains Group.
The proceeds from this issuance – which follows a successful £800m inaugural two-tranche bond issue in July 2010 and a further £400m long-term amortising bond issued last month – will be used to refinance the remaining senior bank debt and provide Angel Trains Group with a stable financial platform for the company to develop further.
The existing bank debt was put in place when a consortium of infrastructure investors and managed pension funds bought Angel Trains Group from The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in August 2008.
Goldman Sachs International acted as sole financial advisor on the debt refinancing, and the two loans were provided by a group of nine banks – BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Export Development Canada, ING, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, RBC Capital Markets, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group and Westpac.
George Lynn, Chief Financial Officer of Angel Trains Group, said:
“We are delighted to have completed our re- financing programme. The market again showed its support for Angel Trains Group as all transactions were significantly over subscribed. We are now in a very strong position having diversified our sources of finance and our debt maturity profile.
“In today’s market, the interest our debt-package received is testament to the robust credit profile and strong operating performance of Angel Trains Group and shows a big vote of confidence in the company.”
