Sequoia Econ Infra – NAV and Investment Update

 The changes in NAV arose primarily through:

·      Interest income net of expenses of 0.76p;

·      An increase of 0.40p in asset valuations; and

·      A decrease of 0.07p from FX movements.

During the month, the Company deployed the remaining equity issue proceeds into additional economic infrastructure debt investments and did not make any further drawings on its Revolving Credit Facility. The Company's own cash balance after deducting total net borrowings of £55.2m was -£5.9m. Company also had undrawn commitments, and two additional investments in settlement, collectively valued at £188.7m.

As at 31 January 2019, approximately 97% of the Company's NAV consisted of either Sterling assets or was hedged into Sterling. The Company has adequate resources to cover the cash costs associated with its hedging activities.

The Company's settled investment activities during January include:

·      An initial £10.0m primary loan to Bulb Energy, an electricity supplier in the UK;

·      An additional $7.8m disbursement to Whittle Schools;

·      An additional £5.0m secondary purchase of Elysium Healthcare's B1 facility;

·      An additional £2.0m secondary purchase of Euro Garages term loan B, one of the largest motorway service station operators in the UK; and

·      An additional €1.8m secondary purchase of Ziton A/S floating rate 10/2021 bonds, an offshore wind turbine maintenance company operating in the North Sea.

No investments were sold, called, or prepaid during January.

Market Summary

A total of 29 project finance transactions closed in January throughout the Company's eligible jurisdictions, worth $4.3bn in aggregate. Notable transactions during the month include:

·      A €2.5bn refinancing of the LGV Tours-Bordeaux high speed rail line in France;

·      A €493m financing for the Liege Tram PPP in Belgium, which will be 11.4km of tramline connecting Sclessin and Coronmeuse; and

·      A €150 million mezzanine loan for the EllaLink subsea cable project linking data centres in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and France.

The US economy added 304,000 jobs in January 2019, with the unemployment rate slightly increasing to 4.0%. US GDP growth is expected to slow in 2019 to 2.3%, with continued pressure from tensions with China and the prolonged government shut down in December and January putting pressure on US economic growth. The Federal Reserve has indicated that it will put further rate rises on hold.

Eurozone economic growth has stagnated, with only 0.2% growth in Q4 2018 and concern that economic growth will slow further. Italy, the third-largest Eurozone economy, entered a recession, with its second consecutive quarter of economic contraction. Germany has also cut its projections for growth to 1.0% from 1.8%.

Amid Brexit fears and a global economic slowdown, UK economic growth has slowed as well, with only 0.2% growth in Q4 2018 and 1.4% growth for all of 2018, the slowest growth rate since 2012. The BoE has forecast growth for 2019 at 1.2%.