The French National Railway Company (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français) (SNCF) has launched a structured bond issuance of an amount of 952,200,000 euro maturing on 2019.
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and Natixis acted as joint bookrunners for the bond issuance.
The bonds are backed by irrevocable receivables payable monthly which SNCF holds against a transport organization authority. These receivables of an amount slightly higher than one billion euro, relate to fixed investment contributions concerning automotive equipment. This is the first operation of monetization of public receivables of that size.
The operation was structured via an ad hoc vehicle which was created for purposes of the monetization of the receivables and the bond issuance on the capital markets. The bonds are listed on Euronext Paris. The bond issuance was well received by French investors, including banks, asset managers and insurance companies.
Salans Paris represented SNCF with a team led by finance partner Philippe Max with the assistance of public law partner Marc Fornacciari as well as finance associate David Kalfon and public law associate Nicolas Vital.
