Glennmont completes €190 M refinancing of 245 MW Italian wind

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Glennmont Partners has successfully completed the refinancing of SER portfolio for €190 million (US$224 million), comprised of 245 MW of installed capacity. The transaction follows last month’s successful refinancing of Glennmont’s Sleaford biomass plant in the UK worth £150 million.

The refinancing was successfully arranged by Natixis and Unicredit acting as Structuring MLAs and Bookrunners which also provided a liquidity facility. DNV GL acted as the technical adviser, PwC as the tax adviser, and both Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners who provided legal advice to the borrower and lenders respectively. 

The refinancing has replaced part of the original project finance debt, from nine financing banks, with one bond listed in the ExtraMOT segment of Borsa Italiana, provided by certain investors managed and represented by a large financial institution

The SER portfolio, which was acquired in June 2016, is made up of 231 wind turbines across Sicily and Puglia, all of which entered into operation between 2009 and 2012. The refinancing has replaced part of the original project finance debt, from nine financing banks, with one bond listed in the ExtraMOT segment of Borsa Italiana, provided by certain investors managed and represented by a large financial institution.

Francesco Cacciabue, CFO at Glennmont Partners, commented:

“We are delighted to complete our second major refinancing in a month. This transaction demonstrates Glennmont’s confidence in the clean energy sector across Europe as our investors enjoy an unprecedented yield from our funds’ assets. The increasingly sophisticated financing options open to clean energy asset owners give us the opportunity to realise large amounts of capital and to enhance the overall value of our funds. Investors can look forward to more of the same in the coming months”.

Claudio Vescovo, Investment Director at Glennmont Partners, said:

“The complexity of this transaction was underpinned by the level of expertise here at Glennmont and we look forward to realising more value from our assets, both in Italy and further afield. We are pleased to have structured the first ever wind bond financing in the country leveraging on our in-house expertise. The strong demand from investors underlines the quality of the assets we invest in, which offer deep market potential and a balance of yields and returns”.

Glennmont Partners is one of Europe’s largest fund managers focusing exclusively on investment in clean energy infrastructure. It raises long-term capital to invest in alternative power generation projects, such as wind farms, biomass power stations, solar parks and small-scale hydro power plants.