HSH Nordbank closes second European airport finance deal within four weeks
HAMBURG/KIEL HSH Nordbank is acting as one of the mandated lead arranger to pro-vide Newcastle Airport with approximately EUR 62 million to refinance existing bank liabili-ties. Ahead of this HSH Nordbank supported the airport’s financial consultants, the Royal Bank of Canada and KPMG, with structuring the refinancing of existing bank loans. This already took the change of the private shareholder into consideration. The amount to be financed comes to approximately EUR 272 million and is to be provided by a total of five international banks. A key element of this transaction was the injection of additional equity by the shareholders amounting to EUR 161 million. The term of the new loans is five years.
“By structuring and providing the finance we have again strengthened our leading position in European airport financing. Furthermore, the much better risk structure through the injection of additional equity significantly enhances the quality our loan portfolio, ” said Dr. Marcus Kleiner, Head of Origination Infrastructure & Rail at HSH Nordbank.
The international airport in Newcastle, in the North-East of England, is the seventh-largest airports in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger volume. Apart from providing a direct link to the hub London Heathrow, the airport directly serves a large number of destinations in Europe, thereby providing the North-East region with an essential transport infrastruc-ture.
This represents the second major finance transaction for a European airport – within four weeks. As Mandated Lead Arranger, HSH Nordbank provided Bristol Airport with approxi-mately EUR 69 million as part of a refinancing. The total financing package with a term of five years amounted to EUR 346 million. Four more banks participated in the transaction. Bristol Airport, the ninth largest international airport in the United Kingdom, is located in the south-west of England.
