Outdoor media infrastructure specialist Wildstone has completed a landmark £350 mln (€407 mln) infrastructure refinancing with Deutsche Bank as underwriter and MEAG, Lloyds, Natixis and M&G as mandated lead arrangers.
The transaction enables Wildstone to both refinance its existing debt and fund its next stage of growth across the UK and Europe. The transaction also marks the first infrastructure debt raised in the Out-of-Home (OOH) sector, and is the first widely syndicated financing for Wildstone.
Since 2010 Wildstone has established itself as a leader in OOH infrastructure by developing a portfolio of over 5,000 OOH assets across the UK, Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands and Germany. The new debt facility will enable Wildstone to further scale its portfolio in European markets and explore strategic opportunities to expand its global reach.
Wildstone’s accelerating digital rollout has included the conversion to digital of hundreds of traditional paper billboards. The global digital OOH market size is forecast to double from $23 bn (€21 bn) today to $46 bn by 2029.
The new flexible debt facility will unlock Wildstone’s ability to further digitally enhance existing sites and invest in other capital upgrades across its portfolio.
Damian Cox, CEO and Founder of Wildstone, commented: 'Completing a refinancing of this magnitude in today’s market is testament to the quality of our estate, our people and most importantly our partner tenants.
'This industry-first debt facility will enable us to further expand our portfolio across Europe, aggressively scale our industry-transforming digitisation efforts and increase our operational flexibility.'
