Fund Managers

Vinci gets €1.78bn for French road network(2)

A syndicate of 17 banks backed the French developer in its refinancing of an existing €2bn facility maturing in December 2013. The new €1.78bn syndicated facility has a five-year term.

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Roads operator Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF), a subsidiary of French developer Vinci, has obtained a €1.78 billion credit facility to refinance existing debt, Vinci announced in a statement late last week.

Vinci said the facility was more than 1.5 times oversubscribed and will be used to retire an existing €2 billion revolving credit facility expiring in December 2013. A syndicate of 17 banks is providing the €1.78 billion in new debt, including:

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Credit Agricole, HSBC, Natixis and Societe Generale, acting as mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and coordinators; Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Credit Lyonais, serving as mandated lead arrangers; and Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Credit Mutuel-CIC Group, ING, Lloyds, Mizuho, Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Scotland and Unicredit, as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

ASF, founded in 1957, is described by Vinci as “the world’s leading integrated concession-construction group”. It currently operates a 2,633-kilometre road network across France, with a further 81 kilometres under construction.

In related news, Vinci Concessions has recently been named preferred bidder to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the Arena de Dunkerque stadium in the northern French coastal city of Dunkirk.