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Transurban refinances Hills M2 Motorway(4)

The Australian toll road operator has secured a new A$465m debt facility for the Sydney toll road. A syndicate of five banks provided the financing, including Calyon, Commonwealth, and RBS.

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Australian toll road operator Transurban Group has refinanced A$465 million (€260 million; $340 million) of non-recourse project debt for the Hills M2 Motorway, a 21 kilometre road in Sydney, Australia.

Five banks are providing the new debt facility. They are Calyon Australia, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Westpac Banking Corporation.

The debt facility has two parts. One part has a maturity of three years and accounts for about 60 percent of the facility; the other has a maturity of five years and accounts for the remainder of the facility. The three year portion is priced “in line” with M2’s previous facilities, while the five year portion is priced 140 basis points higher, according to a statement.

The M2 had debt of A$459 million due in June, according to a recent investor presentation.

Transurban owns a 100 percent interest in the Hills M2, which opened for traffic in 1997. It also has interests in five other toll roads in Australia and two toll roads in the US:  the Pocahontas 895 and the Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll Lanes projects.

The Capital Beltway project is still under construction, while all the other roads are operational assets.