<ul><li><em><strong>Moody’s announce new credit rating post refinancing</strong></em></li></ul>
<p>25 June 2018: Porterbrook, one of the UK’s leading rolling stock companies, is delighted to announce the refinancing of its bank facilities.</p>
<p>The new £885m facilities, which include drawn and undrawn senior debt, have been raised from a group of UK and international banks at significantly improved margins.</p>
<p>Porterbrook is also pleased to announce a new senior credit rating published by Moody’s Investors Service, assigning a Baa2 rating for Porterbrook Rail Finance Limited’s senior debt. Porterbrook has concurrently requested the withdrawal of Standard & Poor’s BBB rating of Porterbrook Rail Finance Limited and its associated senior debt for which Standard & Poor’s provides a credit rating.</p>
<p>Mary Grant, CEO of Porterbrook, said:</p>
<p>“Demand for UK rail capacity is set to grow further with the industry Rail Delivery Group forecasting a doubling of passenger demand over the next 30 years. At the same time, rail passengers rightly expect more from their trains, be it WiFi connectivity, high quality on-board environment, increased accessibility or sustainability.</p>
<p>"Today’s refinancing will allow Porterbrook to continue playing a crucial role in meeting that demand, and in keeping the country moving. Our fresh firepower allows us to invest in new state-of-the-art trains while also upgrading our existing rolling stock as part of our re-leasing strategy.</p>
<p>“It will also allow us to continue investing in our asset-management offering, enhancing the skills in our workforce, and also innovating to find new solutions to the challenges facing the entire transport industry such as emissions.”</p>
<p>Peter Coates, CFO of Porterbrook, said:</p>
<p>“The successful refinancing of Porterbrook’s bank facilities underlines the company’s attractiveness to debt investors. We look forward to working with our new bank group over the coming years to continue to develop the business and invest in the UK rail market.”</p>
<p>Rothschild acted as financial adviser to Porterbrook. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP acted as borrower counsel and Ashurst LLP acted as lender counsel.</p>