Having already been awarded Project Finance International’s ‘European Rail Deal of the Year’, Rock Rail’s ground-breaking approach to funding rolling stock has been further recognised when Mark Swindell, CEO Rock Rail Holdings Ltd and Founding Partner Rock Infrastructure, received the prestigious Finance Monthly 2017 Game Changer Award in February.
The Game Changer 2017 award follows a highly successful year for Rock Rail which has seen it winning two key contracts for the funding, procurement and leasing of rolling stock fleets worth just under £1 billion. The deal for rolling stock on Govia Thameslink Railway’s Great Northern route was signed in February 2016 (more information – rock rail signs first rolling stock deal), and in October 2016 a second deal to provide rolling stock on Abellio East Anglia’s Norwich to London InterCity route, Stansted Express and other regional services was finalised (more information – rock rail wins another UK rolling stock financing deal).
The deals saw project sponsor Rock Rail and co-equity partners SL Capital (part of Standard Life Investments) and GLIL (the joint venture between Greater Manchester Pension Fund and London Pensions Fund Authority), working with UK institutional investors, and in the case of the East Anglia deal, also with international institutional investors and the European Investment Bank, to provide the senior debt in what is seen as a game changing approach to funding rolling stock. In a sector that has seen little change in funding approaches or key players in recent years, Rock’s approach has driven competition into the market and resulted in significantly better value for money for the government, operators, investors and passengers alike.
Rock Rail’s achievements continue to be recognised having been shortlisted for a further two awards:
- FINALIST for the SPONSOR/DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR, Partnership Awards 2017
Rock Rail Holdings Limited
- FINALIST for the BEST TRANSIT PROJECT, Partnership Awards 2017
Rock Rail East Anglia