Water utility company Dee Valley Group has completed a €114m debt refinancing, with funding provided by HSBC, in a deal advised by Clearwater.
Clearwater advised Dee Valley on refinancing its existing bank funding, including a substantial increase of €29m to total €42m. The refinancing was negotiated alongside the existing bond facility, providing €114m debt to be used to fund a capital investment programme which was recently agreed with the water industry regulator Ofwat.
Dee Valley is a water-only supply company, providing mains water over a 831km² area which covers North East Wales and the North West of England. The company plans to invest up to €70m in the business between 2015 and 2020, its largest ever investment programme. This will cover upgrading water treatment works, rebuilding treated water storage reservoirs and renewing 70km of mains.
The refinancing comes at a time when the regulator has lowered the return on capital cap to 3.6% for the current five-year investment period, from 5.1% in the previous period. The newly negotiated debt structure will allow the company to reduce its debt cost, thereby improving margins.
