Canadian renewable developer
Innergex has closed on $67.7 million in financing from
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi for its 38% share of the 109.5 MW Carleton wind farm in Quebec. The project is under construction and set to come online this month.
Innergex owns the project with
TransCanada (PFR, 8/15).
The joint lead arrangers split the debt 50/50 in the deal which closed Nov. 19. The package consists of a $53.4 million construction/term loan with a tenor of five years after construction. It is not fully amortizing and contains a balloon payment at the
end. Rounding out the debt is a five-year, $833,000 letter of credit and $13.25 million in two temporary loans to be taken out in the next several months: roughly $8 million to construct a substation connecting the project to Hydro Quebec's grid that will later be repaid by the utility, and around $5.5 million for taxes on the General Electric turbines that will later be repaid by the Quebec government. Pricing in the deal could not be learned, but SMBC provided a five-year interest rate hedge for 100% of the debt.
Carleton is located in the Regional County Municipality of Bonaventure and has a 20-year PPA with Hydro Quebec. It will use 73 GE 1.5 MW turbines. An official at SMBC declined to comment, and BOTM did not return requests for comment. A call to TransCanada was not returned.
