What proportion of the senior private debt for the Warkworth to Te Hana project is fixed or hedged, and for what period of the debt's tenor does that hedging apply, if any?

Answer

As with previous PPPs, the Project Agreement requires NZTA to make payments to the Contractor for floating interest rate costs that flow through to the private debt that makes up part of the capital structure of the Contractor consortium. Transport PPP projects typically include arrangements to hedge these floating interest rate exposures for NZTA. The approach NZTA has taken to hedge floating rate interest risk for the project includes: • construction phase: as part of financial close, NZTA has fully hedged the floating interest rate over the 7-year construction phase by entering an interest rate swap with the Crown through the Treasury (New Zealand Debt Management (NZDM)) • operational phase: in the lead up to the operational phase, NZTA will enter additional interest rate swaps with NZDM for the operations period to optimise risk management and value for money.