By Alasdair Reilly
LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - The 940 million pound ($1.37 billion) loan backing the widening of London's M25 motorway is unlikely to require extra government funding after securing sufficient bank support, banking sources said on Thursday.
The financing, which was launched in August 2008, is for widening the M25 from three lanes to four lanes from junctions 5 to 7 and junctions 16 to 30.
Syndication of the loan has not formally closed, but 17 banks of the 20 invited have now received credit approvals to join the deal, negating the need for additional government support, a banker close to the deal said.
The loan is expected to close in the first week of May, he added.
Progress on project financing has been slow this year as the global credit crisis impacted banks' ability to commit long-term money to infrastructure deals.
This market dislocation prompted the UK government to set up the Infrastructure Finance Unit to meet funding shortfalls.
Lenders however found comfort after interest cover ratios were upped from around 1.24 times to 1.4 times on the financing, the banker said.
The 27-year senior financing pays an initial margin of 250 basis points (bps) over LIBOR, stepping up after year seven in 50 bps increments to 350 bps at year 11.
The step up is a common feature of recent project financings, and is designed to encourage early refinancing.
A 50 percent cash sweep mechanism starts in year eight that will funnel excess cash towards debt repayment and rises to 100 percent in year 20, which will reduce the average maturity of the loan.
A second banking source close to the deal said senior banks had joined the deal with commitments of 100 million pounds and 75 million pounds, while others came in for smaller 50 million pound and 25 million tickets.
The financing pays a 200 bps fee, however this may be increased to 250 bps to encourage more banks into the deal, the banker close to the deal said.
Lloyds TSB is acting as documentation agent on the deal, while SMBC is acting as technical bank, BBVA is the insurance bank and WestLB is the modelling bank, several sources said.
The Connect Plus consortium comprising Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Egis Projects and Skanska were named as preferred bidder on the project in July 2008.
The consortium will also be responsible for maintaining the motorway over the contract period of 30 years. (Additional reporting by Tessa Walsh; Editing by Rupert Winchester)