Irish renewable energy company NTR has completed a €370m portfolio refinancing of a 220 mega watt (MW) onshore wind portfolio.
The deal is for its NTR Wind 1 LP fund, which is made up of 12 windfarms operating in Ireland and the UK. The fund was established by NTR to construct and operate onshore wind projects availing of the Renewable Energy Feed In Tarriff (REFIT Ireland) and Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC UK) long-term supports.
With all projects in the fund now in operation, NTR said it has availed of the opportunity to replace the existing individual project finnance packages with a “competitive and flexible portfolio refinance.”
Anthony Doherty, NTR’s corporate finance director, said: “NTR is delighted with the outcome of this refinance where we achieved all of our objectives regarding terms and flexibility, notwithstanding the Covid-19 uncertainties. This is reflective of the quality of the assets across the whole portfolio, underpinned by NTR’s market leading operational expertise.”
The mandate comprises euro and sterling term loan facilities of around €350m and €20m of revolving credit and debt service reserve facilities. Five lenders – AIB, LBBW, NatWest / Ulster Bank, Santander, and Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank – are lead arrangers in the mandate.
It is estimated that the NTR Wind 1 LP fund portfolio offsets around 125,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year and powers over 130,000 homes with clean energy, according to a statement from the company.
Santander was financial advisor to NTR on the transaction, Pinsent Masons acted as legal advisor, while Centrus Advisors provided hedging support. DLA Piper (legal), Everoze (technical), KPMG (tax) and Aurora Energy Research (market), were advisors to the lenders group.
Earlier this year NTR, which is controlled by chairman Tom Roche and his family, secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a European utility as part of its financing of 94MW of wind projects in Sweden and Finland. NTR spent €180m last year buying wind energy projects in Sweden and Finland.