| DEPFA to expand its presence in Irish market beyond PPPs |
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| DEPFA BANK plc, the Dublin headquartered public sector specialist bank, is to actively market its services to Ireland’s public sector authorities over 2004. DEPFA has already made an impact on Ireland's growing public private partnership (PPP) market, participating in two of the deals which have reached financial close to date. |
The bank, which recently posted strong results in the order of an increase in net income of 57 per cent to €370 million, and a return on equity of 29 per cent, began marketing to Ireland’s 34 county and city councils during 2003, and participated in eight or nine transactions, totalling approximately E100 million during the year.
DEPFA considers Ireland’s public authorities to have high credit ratings, and as such, is looking to expand its business in this area. Previously, due to the tax disadvantages of an IFSC company entering the Irish market, DEPFA, which is Ireland’s largest bank by asset size, did not look to offer its public sector financing services in Ireland. Most of DEPFA’s public sector business comes from Italy?
DEPFA’s first foray into the Irish market was through its special finance unit (SFU), which to date has participated in two of three Public Private Partnership deals which have closed to date, the €94 million schools project, and the €152 million Dundalk Western Bypass Scheme, which closed in early February.
With the recent announcement by Eurostat that PPP deals won’t be counted as Government debt, Paul Leatherdale, head of the SFU, expects that this will provide a considerable stimulus to the sector in Ireland, and he foresees considerable growth potential in PPPs. He says that there is between €1-1.5 billion of deals to be worked on over the next three years. The bank employs around 130 people in its Dublin headquarters, and expects this to grow to around 170/180 by year-end. |
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| Article appeared in the February 2004 issue.
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