COMMERCIAL van hire group Northgate is issuing about £175m of senior guaranteed loan notes into the US Private Placement market, as a means of reducing the group's existing bank debt.

The fixed rate and unsecured notes were issued on Thursday in the denomination of $245m and £21m, with a further $50m due to be issued in January.

In a statement to the stock exchange yesterday, the Darlington plc said it was an opportune time to take such a step. It said: "The placement extends the maturity profile of Northgate's debt facilities while taking advantage of favourable longer-term UK sterling interest rates."

The notes have a maturity of seven and ten years, and the weighted average interest rate is about 5.78 per cent after swapping US fixed interest rates into UK sterling fixed interest rates.