11 The four banks which had provided the £730 million acquisition facility when the Airline Group bought a controlling stake in NATS were reluctant to relax the structure of the original PPP, and also needed to be sure that the terms of any new finance package would not prevent them from later syndicating their loans to other financial institutions. They made some concessions, particularly in relation to the key ratios, but successfully resisted substantial reductions to their margins and fees. In order to retain access to these facilities NATS now has to meet less onerous financial covenants, which are more akin to those found in corporate transactions than the previous project finance structure.