International PPL revises terms of £400m debt facility

Infrastructure investment company International Public Partnerships has successfully revised the terms of its corporate debt facility, it announced on Tuesday, renewing the facility for a further three years to July 2021 to support its future pipeline.

The FTSE 250 firm said its existing facility of £400m, due to expire in November next year, was extended to July 2021 on improved terms.

Those improved terms included a reduction for the margin on cash drawn amounts from 175 basis points to 165 basis points over LIBOR; and a ratchet mechanism on the commitment fee such that the fee was falling from 80 basis points to 60 basis points when the facility is more than 75% utilised.

International PPL added that the facility now featured an 'accordion' facility, which would allow for a future £150m extension of the facility during the term if required, allowing additional flexibility.

“The banking group for the existing facility will be retained, with the potential to introduce new lenders should the accordion component be exercised,” the company’s board explained.

“These include National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland International, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Barclays Bank.”

At 29 June, the company had utilised £26m of the credit available to it under its corporate debt facility, leaving £374m of the £400 million facility available.

Of that, around £255m was currently committed to fund existing investment commitments including the Dudgeon Offshore Transmission Project - on which International PPL was currently the preferred bidder - along with further investments into Cadent, digital infrastructure, and the Offenbach Police Headquarters in Germany.