International Public Partnerships Limited (INPP) has recently announced that the Amber Consortium, of which INPP is part in addition to Aviva Investors and the EIB, has reached financial close on the last of the five privately financed batches of schools being delivered through the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP).  

The fifth tranche of funding will support the development and operation of seven new-build secondary schools in Yorkshire over a 25-year period. The total capital expenditure on the schools in this batch is approximately £129 million (US$189 million), with the Aggregator providing £118 million (US$172 million).

The PSBP Yorkshire private finance batch comprises the following secondary schools:

• All Saints Catholic College, Huddersfield
• Belle Vue Boys' School, Bradford
• Carlton Bolling College, Bradford
• Harrogate High School, Harrogate
• Oakbank School, Keighley
• Samuel Lister Academy, Bradford
• Whitcliffe Mount Business and Enterprise College, Huddersfield

INPP will fund £5.1 million with the European Investment Bank and Aviva providing the remainder. The project sponsors who will provide the balance of the equity and subordinated debt include Laing O'Rourke, Equitix and IUK Investments Limited (HM Treasury), the private equity unit established to invest in government infrastructure projects under PF2.

The investment will be funded through the INPP 's existing cash resources and debt facility. Following financial close of the fifth and final batch, the company will have approximately £145 million of uncommitted credit available under its £300 million revolving credit facility.

To deliver this private finance funding, Education Funding Agency developed and procured a financing model, the aggregator, which will aggregate the funding requirements across the five batches. By aggregating funding requirements, they have been able to access cheaper finance and streamline procurement by using standard finance documents for each batch of schools.