Railpool secures €1.07 billion financing structure for planned growth

Railpool, a leading Continental European rolling stock lessor

Railpool is a leading Continental European rolling stock lessor, operating in 16 European countries. They provide a wide range of services related to locomotive rental and operation.

With over 400 electric locomotive and 148 passenger vehicles (and an investment total of €1.6 billion), Railpool is considered as one of the largest providers in Europe.

Extending its financing structure for planned growth

The company extended its existing financing in April 2022 and secured further funds for the company's planned growth. As part of their development plan, Railpool closed €1.07bn financing on May 12th, supported by Crédit Agricole CIB as Sole Debt Advisor, Sole Green Advisor, Sole Placement Agent and KfW IPEX-Bank in various agency functions.

The new €1.07bn debt package consists of a Green €500m European Private Placement (EuroPP), including 12 years and 20 years amortizing notes, combined with a €550MM bank Capex Facility. The EuroPP will refinance part of Railpool's existing bank debt, while the bulk of the Capex line will allow to fund the debt portion of an already placed order of 120 new electric locos to Siemens: 106 firm and 14 on options.

In addition to the new debt issuance, Railpool successfully pre-hedged via Crédit Agricole CIB €400MM of its term debt, which materialized into substantial gains for the company given the recent upward moves of interest rates.

The financing generated strong appetite in the bank and investor markets, enabling the company to tighten final pricings while upsizing by €225MM the total debt quantum raised and making it the largest EuroPP transaction so far in the rail sector.

Crédit Agricole CIB acting as a Green advisor

Thanks to the support of Crédit Agricole CIB, acting as a green advisor and conducting the first framework EU taxonomy alignment assessment for a rolling stock lessor, the EuroPP Tranche now benefits from a green certification from Sustainalytics.

This deal reaffirms the 2014 established relationship between Crédit Agricole CIB, Railpool and its shareholders (Singaporean fund GIC and German infra fund Palladio). This collective success was made possible thanks to the dedication and strong support of many teams across Crédit Agricole CIB. It also demonstrates Crédit Agricole CIB's ability to coordinate, in a seamless manner, the outstanding expertise of a number of product lines in a complex and challenging environment.

"As a partner of Railpool since years, we look forward to continuing being part of the company's strategic and green development. In a challenging market environment due to the geopolitical situation, we, together with all partners and investors involved, have successfully implemented a solid basis for the further growth of the company."
Karl-Ulrich Clausen, Managing Director, Structured Finance (SFI) Rail Germany

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