Northgate £1bn finance deal led by Yorkshire team

THE Yorkshire office of merchant bank Rothschild has led a fundraising and refinancing of almost £1bn for quoted group Northgate.

Northgate, the Darlington-based van hire business, has completed an £880m refinancing which involved the renegotiation of lending facilities with the firm’s 19 lenders while it has also launched an underwritten placing and rights issues of £114m.

Rothschild’s transaction team was led from Leeds and headed by managing director David Forbes who said the refinancing was one of the largest completed in the North of England in recent years.

He said “This incredibly complex transaction shows what can be achieved when the best debt and equity advisers are brought together with one aim. This is a major step forward in securing Northgate’s long term future.”

Northgate rents light commercial vehicles and sells a range of fleet products to businesses.

The company posted a pre-tax loss of £195.6m for the year ended April 30, compared with a profit of £79.5m a year earlier. Revenue rose 5% to £609.6m.