Background
- Agility Trains West (ATW) was established in 2012 to finance, own and maintain 57 Hitachi class 800 trains that form the first phase of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP)
- IEP is a £5.7bn government-led rolling stock programme to build and maintain 122 new intercity trains for the East Coast and Great Western main lines
Process
- DC Advisory was engaged by the Consortium comprising Dalmore Capital (Dalmore), Equitix Investment Management (Equitix), Japan Infrastructure Initiative (JII) and Rock Rail (Rock) to act as financial adviser providing buy-side M&A and debt advice on the acquisition of a 30% stake in ATW, recognising DC’s extremely strong expertise and knowledge in the UK rail sector
- DC provided comprehensive financial advisory services to the Consortium throughout the acquisition process including:
- Financial modelling and valuation;
- Structuring;
- Process;
- Consortium management and support in negotiations with the seller, including the transaction documents.
- DC also advised on:
- Debt strategy;
- Debt structuring;
- Documentation negotiation and full execution;
- Successfully supported the Consortium in delivering a fully financed transaction on a certain funds basis with the debt financing provided by long-dated “MidCo” index linked private placement lenders, a first for an acquisition financing in the UK.
Outcome
- DC ensured all workstreams were successfully completed and guided the Consortium to win in the competitive auction process
- On 1 November 2018, the Consortium announced the signing of the acquisition of a 30% stake in ATW
- The deal closed on 18 December 2018
