22 October 2019
Cubico Sustainable Investments (Cubico), a leader and global investor in renewable energy, backed by two of Canada’s largest pension funds, has achieved financial close on its first green loan for the refinancing of three wind assets in Italy.
The green loan complies with the Green Loan Principles and has been supported by infrastructure firm AECOM.
The 99 MW portfolio comprises three projects located in Campania, Apulia and Basilicata. They are all fully operational and range from 17.5 to 54.4 MW.
The total amount of non-recourse project finance debt raised was around EUR 173 million. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Crédit Agricole CIB), Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank and Société Générale acted as structuring mandated lead arrangers (MLAs), bookrunners and lenders. Crédit Agricole CIB also acted as agent of the financing and issuing bank, with Crédit Agricole Italia as account bank.
The MLAs were advised by Norton Rose Fulbright (legal), Windfor (technical) and Willis (insurance).
Cubico was advised by Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners (legal), JCRA (hedging) and KPMG (tax and model audit).
David Swindin, Head of EMEA at Cubico, said: “Once again our bank group has shown us a tremendous level of support in Europe with this financing, and we thank them for that. The region remains a key driver of growth for us and we are seeing good opportunities to build on our asset base in Europe, particularly in Italy and Iberia with a continued focus on operational excellence and shareholder value.”
Alessandro Asperti, Head of Italy at Cubico, said: “We are delighted to consolidate our relationships with this pool of lenders in one of our core countries through our first green loan. This achievement further highlights the strong commitment to environmental sustainability and renewable energy which sits at the heart of our culture.
