The Canada-listed company has issued $710 million of green bonds as part of a private placement, and secured a $93.1 million credit facility. Innergex stated that a group of global institutional investors participated in the transaction, which was significantly oversubscribed. SMBC and CIBC World Markets acted as placement agent and co-agent for the transaction, respectively. SMBC also served as the sole green bond coordinator and as sole issuing bank for the credit facility.
The deal optimizes the capital structure and returns for Innergex’s Chilean operations by adding debt to previously unencumbered assets. The portfolio being refinanced comprises a combination of solar, wind and hydropower assets, as well as battery energy storage systems (BESS) wholly owned by Innergex. The assets include three operational onshore wind farms with a total of 332 MW of capacity, acquired from Mainstream Renewable Power- and Actis-backed platform Aela Energia for $686 million in Feb’22. The purchase price for the assets included $386 million of existing debt. Innergex’s other renewable energy projects in Chile include ~120 MW of solar PV, a 34 MW solar thermal facility, ~140 MW of BESS and ~170 MW of hydropower.
The net proceeds from the issuance will be used to finance a $176.2 million portion of the Aela acquisition, while $72.6 million will be used to fund development activities for the company’s first battery energy storage project, which has already commenced construction. The remaining balance will be used to repay $548.7 million of existing debt and other transaction costs.
The deal enhances Innergex’s initial cash-on-cash yield by incorporating a 3-year interest-only period and extending debt maturity. The refinancing will also allow Innergex to unlock $31.7 million of cash at closing and benefit from its pre-hedging strategy, which will generate an additional $55.8 million in cash proceeds.
The above analysis is proprietary to Enerdatics’ energy analytics team, based on the current understanding of the available data. The information is subject to change and should not be taken to constitute professional advice or a recommendation.
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