Bank of Ireland finances Schools PPP projects – 2010

Bank of Ireland today, (2 June 2010) announces its role as Lender to a six-school Public Private Partnership (PPP) project for which contracts were signed today.

Bank of Ireland, alongside NIBC Financing NV and the European Investment Bank (EIB), provided debt funding totalling €100m for the project which is the second in a series of Schools projects to be rolled out under the Department of Education and Skills’ Schools Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programme. The project will be developed by a consortium comprising Macquarie Partnerships for Ireland, Pierse Contracting and John Sisk & Son Ltd. Pierse and Sisk will construct the schools.

The bank group, led by Bank of Ireland, has arranged the project financing package which will finance the construction of the six schools and the maintenance of them over a 25 year period. The construction of the five secondary schools and one primary school will result in up to 1,000 jobs and, when complete, will create approximately 4,500 new school places. The schools are in counties Cork, Limerick, Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.

Donal Murphy, Director, Global Project Finance, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking said: “The provision of the debt funding for the project, alongside EIB and NIBC, highlights our continued commitment to the domestic PPP market. We welcome the involvement of the EIB and NIBC in this transaction as it demonstrates that the Irish PPP market is very much ‘open for business’ for international bidders and funders.”

Bank of Ireland is also a lead funder of the recently opened M7/M8 Motorway PPP. The first Schools PPP project and the State’s first Motorway Service Areas project, both of which were funded by Bank of Ireland, will be open later this year. The Bank is also supporting bidders across a range of other sectors and projects including education, rail and road PPPs.

“We remain fully committed to supporting current and future Irish infrastructure projects being promoted by Government Departments and State Agencies,” commented Tom Hayes, Chief Executive, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking.

Ends

For further information please contact:
Anne Mathews
Media Relations Manager
Bank of Ireland
Tel: 076 623 4771 / 087 246 0358

Notes to Editor:
The five secondary schools in the Second Schools PPP are in Bantry, Co. Cork, Kildare town, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, Athboy, Co. Meath and Wicklow Town. The primary school is a Gaelscoil in Bantry, Co. Cork.

The four secondary schools in the First Schools PPP are in Portlaoise, Co. Laois (x 2); Banagher, Co. Offaly and Ferbane, Co. Offaly.