Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy represented HS1, Ltd. – a consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and owners of the High Speed 1 (“HS1”) railway in the UK – in a $915 million private placement issuance. The proceeds will go towards refinancing the $2.1 billion project costs incurred by HS1, Ltd. in 2010 when it won a 30-year concession to own and operate the railway from the UK government’s London & Continental Railways.
The first-time issuer priced four tranches: a $550 million, 15.5-year tranche priced at 3.79%; a £117 million, 18.5-year tranche priced at 4.21%; a £58 million, 18.5- year tranche priced at 164 bps over Libor; and a £50 million, 23.5-year tranche priced at 4.72%. The private placement issue was lead arranged by National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, HS1 is the UK’s only high-speed railway, providing the route that connects London to the Channel Tunnel.
The Milbank team advising HS1 was led by Alternative Investments partners Elizabeth Hardin and James Warbey, Leveraged Finance partner Suhrud Mehta, and Transportation partner James Cameron along with associates Mikhel Schecter, Marie Anne Bousaba, Caroline Cowie, Nicole Doppelt, John Goldfinch, Matthew Mortimer.
