Southampton Street Lighting PFI

The project originally reached financial close on 10 December 2009, involving the replacement of around 13,500 lighting columns, 11,000 lanterns and 3,000 traffic bollards, as well as the maintenance of c. 28,000 street lights.

A new long-term senior debt facility was arranged with Aviva, replacing the original debt provided by Lloyds and Nationwide. Margins were reduced and gearing increased, resulting in a financial gain for both the City Council and the shareholder.

Dan Tyerman, Project Lead: “We are very pleased to have acted on this street lighting refinancing, following very shortly after the refinancing of the Knowsley street lighting PFI, as well as both the Blackpool and Nottingham street lighting refinancings on which we previously advised.”

The new debt package arranged with Aviva on the Southampton project is extremely competitive, resulting in a large ‘refinancing gain’ for both Southampton City Council as well as the shareholder, demonstrating that even projects at the smaller end of the scale (sub £30m) can still generate meaningful benefits for the counterparties.