Source - LSE Regulatory
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)

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

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

·    Repayments (total £262 million)

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

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

·    Hedging

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

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.

 

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.

 

ENDS.

 

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY, PLEASE CONTACT:

 

 

 Triple Point Investment Management LLP

 (Investment Manager)

 Ben Beaton

 Arnaud Jaguin

+44 (0)20 7201 8989

 J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Corporate Broker)

 William Simmonds

 Jérémie Birnbaum 

+44 (0)20 7742 4000

 Peel Hunt (Joint Corporate Broker)

 Luke Simpson

 Huw Jeremy

+44 (0) 20 7418 8900

 

 

 FTI Consulting (Communications Adviser)

 Ed Berry

 Mitch Barltrop

 Maxime Lopes

dgi9@fticonsulting.com

+44 (0)7703 330 199

+44 (0)7807 296 032

+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.



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

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