Bridge Mortgage Bankers

"One of the springs said that the suggestion on the desk is essentially what has been around for some time.

Neteen bankers are still reviewing the deal, which this year is widely seen as the yardstick for highway finance. "Five or six bankers are already satisfied with the funding arrangements, now it's time to get the other bankers on board," the sources said.

A further credit reference said that the coordinating financial institutions are Lloyds TSB as documentary unit, SMBC as engineering financial institution, BBVA as assurance financial institution and WesternLB as model financial institution. Funding was provided from the following sources: a 27-year term facility of approximately GBP 700 million principal obligation, a GBP 200 million European Investment bank (EIB) facility and a GBP 200 million corporate guarantee facility.

It also has an equity bridge facility of around 200 million books, which can be owned by the leading financial institutions, they said. According to one of the agencies, the agreement will pay an original 250 base points (bps) over LIBOR, which will be increased by 50 by 50 by 11 after seven years, up to 350 by 11 years.

There' s also a 50 per cent currency sweet snap that rises in year eight to 100 per cent in year 20, taking the loans down in terms of duration, the sources said. It has three preliminary stages of ticketing on sale - 50 million quid, 75 million quid and 100 million quid, the sources said.

For the 75 million Pounds expensive tickets, which vary according to the obligation levels, a charge of 200 basis points is made.