AMP Capital today confirmed the successful refinancing of Reliance Rail’s existing A$1.8 billion facility to a Green Sustainability-Linked loan (GSLL) over a 21-year term.
The loan facility, which is one of the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific market, delivers interest savings on the loan to be used exclusively to fund sustainability initiatives such as carbon and emission reduction projects for Reliance Rail’s maintenance centre and Waratah train fleet of trains.
Reliance Rail is a Public Private Partnership (‘PPP’) with the New South Wales Government, established in 2006 to design, manufacture and maintain the largest single procurement of passenger trains in Australian history. Reliance Rail’s core assets are its 78 Waratah Trains, which account for roughly a third of Sydney Trains’ suburban passenger sets, and the Auburn Maintenance Centre (‘AMC’), a purpose-built facility in the west of Sydney, now used to maintain over 60 per cent of Sydney Trains’ passenger fleet.
AMP Capital’s Diversified Infrastructure Trust (‘ADIT’) Managing Director, Mr Brad Williams said, “We’re delighted to have achieved strong financial and sustainability outcomes in this transaction. The use of certified Green Sustainability-Linked Loans, particularly for PPP’s is an exciting new way to deliver carbon and energy reduction projects and we believe paves the way for others in the sector to fund similar sustainability initiatives.”
“Having clear sustainability strategies across all of our assets is a core component of our role in delivering value for our investors” Mr Williams concluded.
AMP Capital has a long-standing relationship with Reliance Rail, having maintained ownership and management continuously for the last 16 years.
ADIT received a 5-Star rating in the 2021 GRESB annual infrastructure assessment benchmarking survey for ESG management and performance.
Reliance Rail is ranked first among global PPP’s in the annual 2021 GRESB survey. Reliance Rail has a continued focus on ESG performance, as it transitions to a low carbon future, facilitating the increased use of electrified transport and reducing vehicle pollution and traffic congestion in Greater Sydney.
About AMP Capital
AMP Capital’s managed interest in Reliance Rail is 66.67 per cent, having increased from 33.99% in 2017.
AMP Capital is a global investment manager with AUM of A$177.8 billion as of 31 December 2021 and has been ranked in the top 10 infrastructure managers globally, based on total capital raised.
In April 2021, AMP Limited announced the intention to demerge AMP Capital’s private markets businesses of Infrastructure and Real Estate to create a leading global investment manager with a strong track record in differentiated private markets asset classes, and leverage these capabilities to expand into attractive growth adjacencies.
As part of the demerger preparations, in February 2022, AMP Capital announced a new brand name for the separated business as Collimate Capital and is on track to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in the first half of 2022.