Aquila European Renewables Income Fund (AERIF) has announced the bond refinancing of the 400MW Øyfjellet wind farm in Norway, which is owned by the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary with a 13.7% interest.

Bond refinancing includes 235 million euros of US private placement (USPP) and 80 million euros of green bonds, with a total issuance of 315 million euros (calculated at 100% interest). The USPP notes were rated as investment grade, and both bond issuances were oversubscribed. On June 10, 2021, the company announced that it had increased its commitment to The Rock to a maximum of 35.6 million euros to provide bridge financing (Bridge) for the project because certain conditions under the project’s existing debt financing agreement prevented the project Extraction of items.

The proposed bond refinancing is to enable the project to immediately benefit from obtaining debt financing on attractive terms. Bond refinancing is expected to increase the economic return of the project. The proceeds from the bond refinancing will be used to fund remaining construction and other project costs, repay the bridges provided by project shareholders, and return surplus capital to project shareholders.

In terms of bond refinancing, the company (through its wholly-owned subsidiary) is expected to receive a total income of approximately 23 million euros. This will include approximately 19 million euros, representing the full repayment of the bridge. Funds are expected to be received soon; and a surplus capital of approximately 4 million euros is expected to be paid during the rest of the construction period.

Together with AERIF's recently announced financing, the proceeds from the bond refinancing will be used to repay any outstanding debt under its revolving credit facility (currently raised to 10 million euros) and to provide funding for the company's attractive investment opportunity pipeline. AERIF Chairman Ian Nolan said: “We are very pleased to announce that AERIF has invested in The Rock to issue bonds to the capital market for the first time. In addition to the economic benefits associated with refinancing, we are very pleased to launch the company’s first green Bonds have further strengthened our participation in the green energy transition."

Keywords: international engineering news, foreign engineering project information

Michael Anderson, senior manager of Aquila Capital, investment advisor to AERIF, said: "As the project approaches completion, this is an important milestone for The Rock, Aquila European Renewable Energy Income Fund and Aquila Capital. We are very much I am glad to see that this transaction is supported by such a high-quality investor base."Editor/Baohongying