HICL completes schools double

HICL Infrastructure Company (HICL), the London-listed infrastructure fund manager, has bolstered its schools portfolio with two new deals.

The firm is paying £21.2 million (€25.1 million; $32.2 million) for additional equity and loan note interests in the Highland Schools Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project. The interests, which take HICL’s ownership of the project to 100 percent, are being acquired from a subsidiary of fellow UK-listed fund manager 3i Infrastructure.     
 
The Highland Schools PFI is a 30-year concession with the Highland Council in Scotland to design, build and operate 11 urban and rural schools with a total capital value of £143 million. The concession runs until 2037.

In addition, a joint venture holding company owned by HICL and Kajima Partnerships is to acquire the remaining 50 percent interest in the West Lothian Schools PFI project from Hochtief PPP Solutions (UK) for £6.2 million.

The West Lothian PFI is a 32-year concession to design, build and maintain two new Scottish secondary schools, the Armadale Academy in Armadale and Deans Community High School in Livingston. The construction cost for the two schools was approximately £60 million.

HICL recently raised £167.3 million from a “significantly oversubscribed” placing, open offer and offer for subscription of shares. It said net proceeds would be used to meet funding requirements, reduce outstanding group debt and make additional investments.