TenneT issues € 1 billion of bonds

14-02-2011 TenneT, the first cross-border Transmission System Operator in Europe, agreed with institutional investors today to issue € 1 billion of senior unsecured bonds.  The transaction was launched after a pan-European road show last week in which TenneT presented its investment and financing plans to investors.  

ING, Lloyds, Rabobank and RBS acted as joint bookrunners on the senior bond, BNG was co-lead manager. The agreed issuance comprises two tranches of EUR 500 million each and maturities of 7 and 12 years, respectively. There was significant investor interest for the transaction, which, in aggregate, was approximately seven times oversubscribed. The bonds will be listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. 

The net proceeds of the bond issue will be used for investments in the Dutch en German power grid. Earlier TenneT announced that it expects to invest 9 to 11 billion euro in the next 10 years in the Dutch and German grid. In the Netherlands TenneT will, amongst other things, be investing in three large projects in the North, West and South-West of the country over the coming ten years. This concerns new 380 kV connections with a total length of over 400 kilometres. In Germany, the onshore grid will be expanded with onshore North-South links and several offshore cable links to connect large-scale wind farms in the North Sea to the onshore high-voltage grid.