CaixaBank has executed its first project finance transaction in New Zealand through its involvement in the refinancing of the debt of the Ara Tūhono–Pūhoi–Warkworth motorway in New Zealand’s North Island.
This has amounted to a total of 779 million New Zealand dollars (around 430 million euros).
CaixaBank was the sole European bank “involved in the transaction, with a contract worth 80 million New Zealand dollars (around 45 million euros).”
The Ara Tūhono motorway, which was “built under a public-private partnership model between the New Zealand Government and the private consortium Northern Express Group (NX2), links the towns of Pūhoi and Warkworth, north of Auckland. Having recently come into operation in June 2023, the 18.5-kilometer-long road enhances connectivity between Auckland and the Northland region.”
The new route provides “reduced traffic congestion, greater efficiency, more reliable journey times, and increased road safety for all users, boosting the region’s economic and population growth.”
CaixaBank’s involvement in refinancing the Ara Tūhono motorway is “the result of the bank’s efforts to continue to grow in Oceania following the successful completion of the refinancing of the Sydney Light Rail in 2021, which was at the time the first project finance in Australia and the bank’s first sustainable finance (green loan) transaction in the entire Asia-Pacific region.”
CaixaBank has been operating in Oceania “since 2018, when it opened its representative office in Sydney (Australia), becoming the sole Spanish bank in the country. As part of CaixaBank’s International Banking network, Sydney’s representative office has a primary goal of fostering communication channels between CaixaBank and local authorities and financial institutions. It aims to assist and support the bank’s customers in their activities, both in foreign trade and in investment and project execution; as well as Australian companies with business or interests in Spain.”
Within its product portfolio, CaixaBank offers “a wide range of solutions for exporters such as trade finance (guarantees, import and export letters of credit, documentary collection, SPOT, standby letters, etc.), cash management (domestic and international payments, bulk payments) and working capital (reverse factoring, factoring), together with account management, term deposits, project finance and corporate loans.”
The Australian representative office serves “both SMEs and micro-enterprises that are initiating their export activity, but also large corporations and business groups that manage more complex international projects.”