St. James's Oncology Financing PLC Assigned 'AA' Long-Term Rating and 'BBB' SPUR; Outlook Stable

U.K.-based limited-purpose entity St. James's Oncology Financing PLC has issued £268.1 million of guaranteed senior secured debt, including £7.0 million of variation bonds that may be released to the market at a later date. The issuance proceeds were lent to St. James's Oncology SPC Ltd. (ProjectCo) to refinance debt and pay a refinancing gain to the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (the Trust) and shareholders. ProjectCo was created to finance, design, build, and operate a new 350-bed oncology wing (the Bexley Wing) for St. James's University Hospital in Leeds. The project is backed by a 33-year and two-month agreement with the Trust. We are assigning our 'AA' long-term rating to the debt to reflect the unconditional guarantee provided by Assured

...+ U.K.-based limited-purpose entity St. James's Oncology Financing PLC has issued ú268.1 million of guaranteed senior secured debt, including ú7.0 million of variation bonds that may be released to the market at a later date. + The issuance proceeds were lent to St. James's Oncology SPC Ltd. (ProjectCo) to refinance debt and pay a refinancing gain to the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (the Trust) and shareholders. + ProjectCo was created to finance, design, build, and operate a new 350-bed oncology wing (the Bexley Wing) for St. James's University Hospital in Leeds. The project is backed by a 33-year and two-month agreement with the Trust. + We are assigning our '##' long-term rating to the debt to reflect the unconditional guarantee provided by Assured Guaranty (Europe) Ltd. and Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. + We are also assigning our '###' Standard & Poor's underlying rating to the debt to reflect our view of the project's relatively simple, low-risk estate management requirements,...

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