Gas Networks Ireland plans debt sale ahead of €500m bond maturity

Ervia’s Gas Networks Ireland plans to begin marketing a debt sale next week as it lines up resources ahead of the maturity of a €500 million bond in April.

The company, a sister to Irish Water, has hired Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas and HSBC to arrange a London and European roadshow on Monday as it prepares to sell debt from its new €1.5 billion European bond programme. The existing bonds, sold in 2012, carry a coupon of almost 3.63 per cent.

Earlier this week, Moody’s Investors Services assigned an A3 rating to the new programme, which is six levels below its top AAA credit rating.

The ratings firm said its stance reflects the low business risk associated with Gas Networks Ireland’s gas transmission and distribution business operating under a transparent and predictable regulatory regime.

The rating also factors in the State-owned company’s mature asset base and relatively modest debt levels and the fact that the business is “adequately ringfenced from the start-up water utility Irish Water”.

The European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat ruled last year that Irish Water’s liabilities must be accounted for on the State’s balance sheet.