2.15 This refinancing, completed in March 2003, was one of the first after the launch of the new refinancing code. Together with other refinancings completed during 2003, it helped to establish how the new code would operate. Despite the code's general principle that authorities will receive 30 per cent of the refinancing gains on early PFI deals, and further guidance from the Treasury on how the gains should be calculated, the Trust's experience has shown that reaching agreement on the gain to be received by an authority is not straightforward. The Treasury Refinancing Taskforce, which monitors refinancing activity across all PFI projects, considers that, given the complexities of refinancings, it was inevitable that a detailed understanding of how to operate the code would be built up from refinancings that occurred after the code came into operation.
2.16 The gains were shared in line with the code with 30 per cent of the gains that related to the original minimum contract period of 28 years being allocated to the Trust. There were, however, extensive negotiations over:
■ the calculation of the amount of the refinancing gains in which the Trust would share; and
■ the basis of how the refinancing gains that arose from the Trust's agreement to extend its original minimum contract period by seven years should be shared.