EUROPE: Private equity investor RIVE Private Investment has structured a €300m financing platform for the acquisition of ‘innovative’ locomotives for lease.
This will initially support existing orders for:
- 15 Siemens Mobility Vectron Dual Mode electro-diesel locomotives;
- 20 Alstom Traxx MS3 locomotives, which RIVA said would be the first of their type to be approved for France, as well as five other countries including Germany and Poland;
- 20 Vossloh Rolling Stock Modula EBB hybrid locomotives.
RIVE said these locomotives types are ’at the forefront of the latest environmental and noise standards in Europe, and will allow for the saving of 247 000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to road freight’.
The locos are to be delivered in 2024-26 and will be managed by RIVE’s asset management partner Northrail.
The financing platform comprises an existing CAPEX facility provided by KfW IPEX Bank and Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank for the Siemens Mobility locos, as well as a new CAPEX facility provided by KfW IPEX Bank, Crédit Agricole CIB and Société Générale for the Alstom and Vossloh Rolling Stock locos.
Additional incremental facilities of up to €225m may be added.
RIVA said the rail sector represents 40% of the transactions of its RTAIF fund, which invests in transport decarbonisation assets.
RIVE partner Camille Brunel said the rail sector ‘faces colossal financing needs for the renewal and maintenance of asset fleets, making it a particularly attractive segment for banks and investors’, and the financing announced on December 12 ’marks a strategic step in the development of our impact transport asset portfolio’.
