Infratil assesses refi, extensions

INFRATIL is assessing whether the company or its portfolio of entities require refinancing or debt extensions because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to filings to the New Zealand and Australia stock exchanges last Wednesday. 

The infrastructure investment company has a NZ$53m (US$32m) bank facility expiring this July, NZ$93.9m of IFT220 bonds maturing in June 2021, and NZ$93.7m of IFT190 bonds due in June 2022. 

The wholly owned group executed a number of bank refinancings in the past three months, boosting its total bank facilities by NZ$75m to NZ$748m.As of March 31, the group had NZ$480m of drawn debt and NZ$268m of undrawn bank facilities.Infratil has major stakes in TRUSTPOWER(51%), WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (66%), RETIREAUSTRALIA (50%), CANBERRA DATA CENTRES(48.2%), TILT RENEWABLES (65%), LONGROAD ENERGY (40%) and VODAFONE NEW ZEALAND(49.9%), according to its website. 

New Zealand utility generator retailer TrustPower, which has NZ$135m of bank facility headroom, is looking to extend debt of NZ$25m and NZ$55m that come due in July and October, respectively.Meanwhile discussions are progressing with lenders and shareholders about the funding required to enable Wellington Airport to maintain operations, undertake necessary investment, and repay approaching financing maturities.RetireAustralia is working with its banking group to repurpose existing facilities for working capital requirements after having completed a refinancing in the second quarter of 2019. 

New Zealand Superannuation Fund owns the remaining stake in RetireAustralia, the owner, developer and operator of retirement villages.Tilt Renewables announced on Wednesday a capital return of approximately A$260m (Infratil’s share is A$169m) by way of a court approved scheme of arrangement which is expected to be completed in the first half of FY2021. Tilt will retain a significant cash position and has a strong balance sheet to support its medium term development pipeline. It is the owner of renewable energy generation assets in Australia and New Zealand.The impact of Covid-19 on Longroad Energy’s future development activity is unclear. 

It is reasonable to expect a slowdown and pipeline development will in part depend on the rate of recovery in corporates and utilities signing new power purchase agreements, as well as liquidity in the bank and tax equity markets. New Zealand Superannuation Fund owns 40% stake in Longroad Energy, which is a renewable energy developer headquartered in Boston in the US.Infratil’s other portfolio entities Canberra Data Centres and Vodafone New Zealand have no near-term maturities.