On December 17, 2019, NTE Mobility Partners, the SPV which operates the North Tarrant Express highway in Texas, successfully reached financial close on the refinancing of $1.2bn of existing debt.
The new bonds, consisting of one $331.8m issue (sold at a premium to bring the total proceeds to $400m) and one $871.1m issue, will be used to repay the outstanding bonds from 2009 which were used to finance the construction of the project and to facilitate the advanced repayment of a loan granted through a United States government program.
The North Tarrant Express, which originally reached financial close in 2009 and became operational ahead of schedule in 2014, is located in North-East Tarrant County in the Fort Worth area of Texas. The project encompasses both state and interstate highways running between the I-35W and Industrial Boulevard and consists of both general non-tolled highways and managed TEXpress tolled lanes. The consortium, which is majority-owned by Cintra, is managing the project under a concession until 2061.
Operis was pleased to provide a formal model audit to the concessionaire, having also audited the original financial close model and performing a high-level review of the operating model earlier in 2019.
