Full recovery in rail finance
due within two years.
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The rail market in continental Europe
is not dominated by a handful of roscos, but populated with a large
number of funders writing business across a range of countries.
Included are independent companies as well as major banks such as
HSH Nordbank, DVB Bank and Dexia.
Indeed, the UK market is treated separately to
the rest of Europe by many funders, with its own set of
idiosyncrasies and challenges.
While most operators in Britain are private –
for example, Virgin, Crosscountry, National Express – much of
Europe is still under the control of national rail operators like
SNCF in France, SNCB in Belgium, and Deutsche Bahn in Germany.
Little rolling stock business is done in
France, according to Bertrand Bocris, asset finance manager at
Dexia Credit, because of the dominance of national rail operator
SNCF.
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By GlobalDataHe said: “We do not see much opportunity in the
French market because of the pre-eminence of SNCF – their financial
needs are met by bonds. They have the AAA rating of the French
state. The only opportunities in France are in regional transport
and these are mainly financed by French tax leases.
“It is something we used to do before the
crisis but we stopped in October 2008.”
In Germany, he added, Dexia is continuing to
focus on specific operating lease transactions, rather than lending
to roscos, something it does in other countries.
It is, he conceded, difficult for roscos to
gain access to capital. In addition, he believes that the
constraints on the market will not ease within the year – although
he does forecast recovery after two years.
“After that, it will be logical to see growth
for the next five to six years,” Bocris said.
In terms of public sector control, the market
in the Benelux countries is among those beginning to open up,
according to Frank Hermandung, senior vice-president of the rail
finance division of HSH Nordbank.
The Italian market is also opening up with the
advent of Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori’s (NTV) plans for a privately
operated high-speed network, while Germany remains the most
independent, along with the UK.
He said: “Germany is still among the most
independent We are in all of Europe, though, and even Eastern
Europe, although that’s more on the freight side, and to a lesser
extent on the diesel multiple unit [DMU] and electric multiple unit
[EMU] passenger equipment side.”
Fennema added that HSH has a presence,
particularly in freight, in Hungary, Poland and the Nordic
region.
He said: “So far this year, we are still
cautiously optimistic – there is more activity in the market, but
to be honest, it is more in refinancing than facilities for new
builds or for capital expenditure.”
Other players, such as Deutsche Bank and Alpha
Trains, also hold a substantial share of the market, with Alpha
filling the role of rosco more or less throughout Europe.
The company has been present in the market for
the last 10 years after splitting from Angel Trains and has offices
in London, Antwerp, Cologne, Luxembourg and Madrid.
A source at Alpha Trains said: “We have
passenger trains in Germany, Denmark, and the Czech Republic.
“On the freight side, we are pretty much
everywhere – we have contracts in Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy,
Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and Norway.”
The source added that, in terms of leasing
locomotives, the company has approximately a 50% market share
across Europe, while in terms of passenger stock, the figure is
more like 70%.
