St. James's Oncology Financing PLC's Proposed Issuance Assigned Preliminary 'AA' Long-Term Rating; Outlook Stable

U.K.-based limited-purpose entity, St. James's Oncology Financing PLC, plans to issue £208 million of senior secured fixed-rate debt and £60 million of index-linked debt, both fully amortizing and due March 31, 2037. The proceeds will be 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 preliminary 'AA' long-term rating to the proposed issuance. We are also assigning our preliminary 'BBB' Standard

...+ U.K.-based limited-purpose entity, St. James's Oncology Financing PLC, plans to issue ú208 million of senior secured fixed-rate debt and ú60 million of index-linked debt, both fully amortizing and due March 31, 2037. + The proceeds will be 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 preliminary '##' long-term rating to the proposed issuance. + We are also assigning our preliminary '###' Standard & Poor's underlying rating (SPUR) to the proposed issuance to reflect our view of the project's simple, low-risk estate management requirements and more than nine years of successful operations. + The stable outlook on the preliminary...

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