Note 3 Property, plant and equipment

Investment

Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment totalled €551 million (2014: €570 million). This includes the acquired assets, as disclosed in note [1] (2015 and 2014).

New consolidations

There were no acquisitions in 2015.

Divestment

Divestment in 2015 related to decommissioning of network assets and other plant and equipment and sales of buildings and land.

Reclassification and other movements

In 2015, this includes the transfer of the capitalised cost of the building in Eindhoven to Endinet Groep B.V. (€3 million).

Reclassification to assets held for sale

For details of this item, reference is made to the accounting policies on page [111]. The amounts disclosed in the statement of movements relate to the carrying amounts as at 24 March 2015.

Impairment

Impairment tests were carried out at year-end for the various assets concerned. In almost all cases, the asset's value in use was taken as the basis for determining the recoverable amount. The present value of projected future cash flows relating to the assets, based on the most recent business plans, was calculated and compared with the carrying amount. For calculating the value in use, Alliander uses discount rates that take into account the risk profile of the assets. In the 2015 reporting period, Alliander used a pre-tax discount rate of 5.6% for the years up to and including 2016 and 4.5% from 2017 onwards, which in both cases is in line with the official regulatory discount rate in the Netherlands. As regards the networks in Germany, the discount rate used has been arrived at using the calculation method adopted by the German regulator, which gives a pre-tax discount rate of 7.0% for the years up to and including 2018 and 5.7% for later years (2014: 6.0%). For the activities in the unregulated domain in 2015, a discount rate after tax of 7.3% (2014: 7.7%) has been used. For further disclosures, see note [4].

There were no impairment losses in 2015. The reversal of the impairment losses recognised in 2014, amounting to €1 million, relates to a heat transport pipeline.

Cross-border lease transactions

In the period 1998 to 2000, subsidiaries of Alliander N.V. entered into US cross-border leases for networks, in the form of LILO (lease-in lease-out) and SILO (sale-in lease-out) structures.

There were no changes in the existing CBL portfolio in 2014. On 2 January 2015, the partial transaction that the former ENW entered into in 1998 for the gas networks in Amsterdam ended on the contractual option date. At the initiative of the investor concerned, the remaining three partial transactions entered into by ENW (gas networks in Kennemerland, Kop Noord-Holland and Midden Noord-Holland) were subsequently terminated prematurely, on 14 April 2015. On the same date, the final payment of the amounts owed in connection with the partial transaction ended on 2 January 2015 was also made earlier than scheduled. The termination of the transactions effected in 2015 means that the former ENW gas distribution networks in Noord-Holland are once again entirely unencumbered assets of Liander. The ENW transaction was the last CBL in connection with which parts of the networks were mortgaged in favour of a US investor and the banks involved.

The termination of the ENW transactions resulted in a reduction of the total net carrying amount of the assets included in the cross-border leases (€0.6 billion reduction), in the related investments in securities ($0.6 billion reduction) and in the strip risk ($3 million reduction). These figures relate to the reported amounts as at year-end 2014. The ENW leases were the final transactions for which Alliander was obliged to issue letters of credit covering the strip risk (year-end 2014: $5 million).

The three transactions currently remaining relate to gas networks in Friesland, Gelderland, Flevoland, Noord-Holland and Utrecht, district heating networks in Almere and Duiven/Westervoort and the electricity network in the Randmeren region. The networks have been leased for a long period to US parties (head lease), which have in turn subleased the assets to the various Alliander subsidiaries (sublease). At the end of the sublease there is the option of purchasing the rights of the American counterparty under the head lease, thus ending the transaction. The terms agreed for the subleases expire between 2022 and 2028. The fees earned on the cross-border leases were recognised in the year in which the transaction in question was concluded. There are conditional and unconditional contractual rights and obligations relating to the cross-border leases.

The total net carrying amount of the networks covered by cross-border leases at year-end 2015 was approximately €0.5 billion (2014: €1.1 billion). At the end of 2015, a total of $2.6 billion (2014: $3.2 milliard) was held on deposit with several financial institutions or invested in securities in connection with these transactions.

Since no powers of disposal exist over the majority of the assets concerned and associated liabilities, they are not regarded as assets and liabilities of Alliander and the respective amounts are not recognised in the consolidated financial statements of Alliander. The investments in securities over which Alliander does have powers of disposal are recognised as financial assets. The associated lease obligations are recognised in finance lease liabilities.

At the end of 2015, the 'strip risk' (the portion of the 'termination value' - the possible compensation payable to the American counterparty in the event of premature termination of the transaction - which cannot be settled from the deposits and investments held for this purpose) for all transactions together was $180 million (2014: $194 million). The strip risk is affected to a large extent by market developments.

In connection with the implementation of the Independent Network Operation Act, the heating networks belonging to Liander Infra Oost N.V. that had been covered by a cross-border lease were subleased in mid-2008 to N.V. Nuon Warmte, part of N.V. Nuon Energy. These operating leases have a term of 12.5 years (term runs to 31 December 2020). The total carrying amount of the subleased heating networks and associated meters as at 31 December 2015 was €102 million (2014: €103 million).