REG - Digital 9 Infrastr. - Arqiva Group completes senior debt refinancing

Digital 9 InfrastructureAnnouncement

05/07/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 9701E  Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC  05 July 2023

5 July 2023

DIGITAL 9 INFRASTRUCTURE PLC

("D9", the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

 

Arqiva Group completes senior debt refinancing

following oversubscribed debt issuances

 

The Board of Digital 9 Infrastructure plc (ticker: DGI9) is pleased to
announce that the Arqiva Group ("Arqiva") has successfully refinanced £262
million of its senior debt (the "Refinancing"). The Refinancing consisted of
£345 million of oversubscribed new issuances, the proceeds of which will be
used for the repayment of existing facilities for £262 million and provide
Arqiva with an additional £83 million for general corporate purposes.

 

The Investment Manager continues to work closely with Arqiva to optimise its
capital structure and liquidity, while later maturity dates achieved through
the Refinancing provide greater flexibility for liquidity management purposes.
The Refinancing follows £45 million of senior debt amortisations over the
last 12 months, as well as the net £175 million deleveraging of Arqiva's
junior debt in Q3 2022. As announced on 21 June 2023, Arqiva also entered into
a collar on its inflation-linked swaps which limits the downside exposure of
Arqiva's cash flows to RPI, with no impact on the indexation of Arqiva's
recurring revenues.

 

D9 and the Investment Manager consider the leverage resulting from the
Refinancing to be within a prudent range given debt service visibility
supported by Arqiva's long-term revenue contracts with a well-diversified base
of high-quality counterparties.

 

Key Highlights of the Refinancing

 

·    Issuances (total £345 million)

o  GBP public bond: £250 million, 5-year expected maturity, 7.21% fixed
coupon

o  US private placement: $118 million 1 , c.6.25-year Weighted Average Life,
6.24% fixed interest rate

·    Repayments (total £262 million)

o  EIB loan (June 2024): £172 million, interest rate SONIA + 1.58%

o  Institutional term loan (Dec 2023): £90 million, interest rate SONIA +
2.33%

·    Hedging

o  Arqiva's interest rate swap portfolio has been rebalanced to maintain
compliance with hedging covenants

o  Increases in gilt yields continue to have no material impact on Arqiva's
interest costs net of pre-existing swaps portfolio

·    Arqiva's credit rating remains at BBB+ (S&P) / BBB (Fitch)

 

More information on the Refinancing is available here:
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/20CA/publication-of-final-terms/16025487
(https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/20CA/publication-of-final-terms/16025487)
.

 

All relevant definitions are available in the prospectus dated 16 June 2023
available at:
https://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0295D_1-2023-6-16.pdf
(https://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0295D_1-2023-6-16.pdf) .

 

ENDS.

 

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY, PLEASE CONTACT:

 

 

  Triple Point Investment Management LLP          +44 (0)20 7201 8989

  (Investment Manager)

  Ben Beaton

  Arnaud Jaguin
  J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Corporate Broker)   +44 (0)20 7742 4000

  William Simmonds

  Jérémie Birnbaum
  Peel Hunt (Joint Corporate Broker)              +44 (0) 20 7418 8900

  Luke Simpson

  Huw Jeremy
  FTI Consulting (Communications Adviser)         dgi9@fticonsulting.com

  Ed Berry                                        +44 (0)7703 330 199

  Mitch Barltrop                                  +44 (0)7807 296 032

  Maxime Lopes                                    +44 (0) 7890 896 777

 

LEI: 213800OQLX64UNS38U92

 

About Digital 9 Infrastructure plc:

 

Digital 9 Infrastructure plc (DGI9) is an investment trust listed on the
London Stock Exchange and a constitutent of the FTSE 250, with ticker DGI9.
The Company invests in the infrastructure of the internet that underpins the
world's digital economy: digital infrastructure.

 

The Investment Manager is Triple Point Investment Management LLP ("Triple
Point") which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority,
with extensive experience in infrastructure, real estate and private credit,
while keeping ESG principles central to its business mission. Triple Point's
Digital Infrastructure team has over $300 billion in digital infrastructure
transaction experience and in-depth relationships across global tech and
global telecoms companies.

 

The number 9 in Digital 9 Infrastructure comes from the UN Sustainable
Development Goal 9, which focuses the fund on investments that increase
connectivity globally and improve the sustainability of digital
infrastructure. The assets DGI9 invests in typically comprise scalable
platforms and technologies including (but not limited to) subsea fibre, data
centres, terrestrial fibre and wireless networks.

 

From its IPO in March 2021 and subsequent capital raises, DGI9 has raised
total equity of £905 million and a revolving credit facility of £375
million, invested into the following data centres, subsea fibre, terrestrial
fibre and wireless networks:

 

·     Aqua Comms, a leading owner and operator of 20,000km of the most
modern subsea fibre systems - the backbone of the internet - with a customer
base comprising global tech and global telecommunications carriers (April
2021);

·    Verne Global Iceland, the leading Icelandic data centre platform,
with 40MW of high intensity computing solutions in operation or development,
powered by 100% baseload renewable power (September 2021);

·     EMIC-1, a partnership with Meta on a 10,000km fibre system from
Europe to India (July 2021);

·    SeaEdge UK1, a data centre and landing station for the North Sea
Connect subsea cable, part of the North Atlantic Loop subsea network,
improving connectivity between the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and North America
(December 2021);

·     Elio Networks (previously Host Ireland) a leading enterprise
broadband provider that owns and operates Fixed Wireless Access networks
(April 2022);

·    Verne Global London (previously Volta), a premier data centre based
in central London, providing 6MW retail co-location services (April 2022);

·    Verne Global Finland (previously Ficolo), a leading Finnish data
centre and cloud infrastructure platform, with c.23MW of data centre capacity,
powered by 100% renewable power and distributing surplus heat to district
heating networks (July 2022).

·   Giggle, a revolutionary Fibre to the Home network providing affordable
broadband to social housing in Glasgow (July 2022); and

·    Arqiva, the only UK national terrestrial television and radio
broadcasting network in the United Kingdom - providing data, network and
communications services, as well as a national IoT connectivity platform
(October 2022).

 

The Company's Ordinary Shares were admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund
Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on 31 March 2021. It
was admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the
Financial Conduct Authority and migrated to trading on the premium segment of
the Main Market on 30 August 2022.

 

For more information on the Investment Manager please visit
www.triplepoint.co.uk. For more information, please visit
www.d9infrastructure.com (http://www.d9infrastructure.com) .

 1  Exchanged to c.£95 million on day of drawdown.

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