Plenary successfully closes two major Ontario projects

Plenary has successfully achieved financial close on two key infrastructure projects for the Government of Ontario: Metrolinx’s East Rail Maintenance Facility and Halton Healthcare’s Milton District Hospital.

The twin milestones mark the beginning of 30-year relationships to design, construct, finance, and maintain each of the facilities.

“Friday was another great day in the history of Plenary Group, and of AFP/P3 financing, with two of our major projects successfully closing in the same market and on the same day”, says Brian Budden, Executive Vice-President of Plenary Group. “We are pleased to see continued strong interest from debt funders for these projects and are happy for Ontario’s AFP delivery model to reap the benefits of extremely competitive financing rates, while continuing to deliver outstanding value for our clients and for taxpayers.”

East Rail Maintenance Facility

The financing for the $859.2 million East Rail Maintenance Facility featured a hybrid bank-bond solution. The financing included $183 million of long bonds and $112 million short bonds, underwritten and placed privately by TD Securities Inc., as well as a $137 million construction period credit facility provided by TD Bank and BMO. $23 million of equity was provided by Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd. (80%), Kiewit Canada Development Corp (10%), and Bird Capital Limited Partnership (10%).

The facility includes approximately 500,000 square feet of buildings and includes: tracks and storage for thirteen 12-car passenger trains; built-in capacity to store an additional nine passenger trains for future use; stations to repair, maintain, fuel, wash and power GO trains; staff and visitor parking; and sustainable design and construction features, with the goal of achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold certification. Substantial completion of the project is anticipated for the end of 2017.

The Plenary Infrastructure team includes: Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd., Kiewit Canada Development Corp., Bird Capital Limited Partnership, Bird Design-Build Construction Inc., Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Stantec Consulting, Arup Canada Inc., Honeywell Limited, Toronto Terminals Railway, and TD Securities.

Milton District Hospital

The $512 million Milton District Hospital expansion project was financed through a combination of bank debt and bonds. RBC Dominion Securities underwrote $61 million of short-term bonds and $126 million of long-term bonds, while Alberta Treasury Branches provided a $25 million construction period credit facility. $13 million of equity was provided by Plenary (80%) and PCL Investments Canada (20%). RBC Capital Markets was the financial advisor.

The expansion will add 330,000 square feet of space to the existing 125,000-square-foot hospital. Project highlights include: expansion of emergency and surgical services, medical/surgical inpatient units, critical care, maternal newborn and diagnostic imaging and support services; overall capacity increase from 63 to 129 inpatient beds; eighty per cent single-patient rooms for improved infection prevention and control and to provide increased patient privacy and a quieter healing environment; addition of the hospital’s first Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine; a Level 2A Special Care Nursery with capacity for eight bassinettes in the Maternal Newborn Unit. The project will target the Canada Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED® ) rating system, with a goal of achieving LEED® Silver certification. Construction of the expansion is expected to be completed in spring 2017.

The Plenary Health team includes: Plenary Group, PCL Investments Canada, PCL Constructors Canada, B+H Architects, RTKL Associates, Johnson Controls, and RBC Capital Markets.