Transurban Group has announced that Queensland Motorways (QM), in which Transurban Group has a 62.5% interest, will issue A$250 million of secured fixed rate 7-year notes.

QM currently has A$2.9 billion of senior debt facilities of which A$1.0 billion matures in July 2016. The new notes will partially repay that tranche. They will mature in December 2021 and rank equally with QM's existing senior debt.

The book-build was completed on 27 November 2014 and will be issued at a fixed coupon of 4.75%. Settlement of the notes is expected to occur on 8 December 2014 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Transurban Group Acting CFO, Leigh Petschel, said of the issue:

"This represents the inaugural issuance for QM in the debt capital markets following the successful bank syndication earlier in the year. QM will continue to diversify its funding in the near term through accessing different markets and extending tenor."

In early July we reported that a consortium formed by Transurban Group (62.5%), AustralianSuper (25%) and Tawreed Investments Limited (12.5%), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, had reached financial close on the acquisition of QM for US$6.673 billion.

The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), a government owned corporation based in Brisbane, held the investment in Queensland Motorways on behalf of the state's Defined Benefit Fund, which funds superannuation obligations for retired workers.

The state Government had transferred QM to QIC in May 2011 for a market-value price of A$3.088 billion on an enterprise value basis. Since then the business has been substantially transformed, and later reached contractual agreement to acquire Brisbane's Clem7 Tunnel for A$618 million, tolling rights for the city's A$1.5 billion Legacy Way tunnel and the A$308 million Go Between bridge.