B of I to finance light rail system in Canada

Bank of Ireland is expanding its project finance business by taking on its first Canadian rail transaction.

The bank, which has already assisted in raising funds for projects such as the London Underground upgrades and several hospitals and schools in the UK, announced yesterday that it was one of the lead arrangers for a 1.8 billion Canadian dollar (€1.2 billion) project to develop a light rail system in Canada.

The initiative, the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rail link (RAV) that will run from the town of Richmond, northwards to central Vancouver, with a link to Vancoucer International Airport, is one of Canada's largest public-private partnership projects and also one of the first to be funded by long-term bank finance. The other lead arrangers on the project are Société Génèrale and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale.

Adrian Olsen, head of Bank of Ireland's global project finance division, said the project gave the bank a good opportunity to continue expanding its project finance business overseas.

He said demand for such financing is rising in Europe and north America and the bank was in an excellent position to take advantage of this.

The rail project will be ready in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada and will provide a key transport link for the games. The route will be built by Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin.