TENs a crowd

The volume of rail financing in the EU is set to rise dramatically over the next few years. This rush of activity is linked to the Trans European Networks (TENS) programme, which aims to cut out bottlenecks in the current rail system, reducing travel time for business and promoting the rail system a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asset Finance International 2004-10, p.1
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agreements
Capital markets
Construction costs
Funding
High speed
International finance
Loans
Participating loans
Project finance
Railway networks
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Summary:The volume of rail financing in the EU is set to rise dramatically over the next few years. This rush of activity is linked to the Trans European Networks (TENS) programme, which aims to cut out bottlenecks in the current rail system, reducing travel time for business and promoting the rail system as an alternative to road haulage across the expanded EU and into neighbouring countries. The rail finance market is currently focused on the most important event in the coming months, which is the putting together of the Eu550 million syndicated bank loan for the Perpignan to Figueras rail link. Five banks have been mandated as arrangers of the deal, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Caja Madrid, Royal Bank of Scotland, ING and Banesto, with the latter acting as advisors to the sponsors. The two main rail customers will be rail operators Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Espanoles (Renfe) and Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais (SNCF), so lenders are looking to two state owned entities to generate the cashflows needed to repay the debt. The total project cost will be around the Eu1.2 billion mark, with public money being put in by both the French and Spanish governments, plus EU grants, totalling around half of this amount.
ISSN:1367-8086