Media centre

Thursday 26 Feb 2004

NETWORK RAIL SIGNS £10 BILLION MEDIUM TERM NOTE PROGRAMME

Region & Route:

National

Network Rail is pleased to announce that it has signed a £10 billion Medium Term Note programme.  The inaugural MTN issue is expected to be launched in March 2004.  The MTN programme, which is supported by the Strategic Rail Authority, is expected to be assigned credit ratings of AAA by Standard & Poors, Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by Fitch IBCA.  Debt issued under the programme will have a maximum maturity date of 31 March 2009.  The programme permits issuance in a range of currencies and will enable Network Rail to diversify its funding sources.  The first issue will be launched, subject to market conditions, following a series of presentations by Network Rail to debt investors in the UK and across Europe.  HSBC & Merrill Lynch have been appointed as joint global co-ordinators and bookrunners for the inaugural benchmark MTN issuance.  Other bookrunners involved in the transaction are Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, RBC Capital Markets, The Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and West LB. Fred Maroudas, Network Rail’s Director, Funding, said: “The MTN programme represents an important step forward in Network Rail’s funding strategy.  It follows the successful completion of our £4 billion Commercial Paper programme. “The MTN programme will continue to build investor confidence in Network Rail and we look forward to meeting with debt investors across Europe over the coming weeks.”