ACEN Corp. said Monday its Australian subsidiary signed a syndicated green term loan facility with major international banks amounting to Au$277 million, its largest green term loan facility to date.
The loan will provide capital financing for ACEN’s renewable energy portfolio in Australia, which will contribute to the company’s strategic aspiration to grow its renewable capacity to 20,000 megawatts by 2030.
“This syndicated green term loan facility continues to build on the funding secured at the end of last year and will be mobilized into our Australian portfolio. With Stubbo 520-MW project reaching notice to proceed late in 2022, ACEN continues on the journey in decarbonizing Australia. It is exciting to work with quality financial institutions and the appetite for quality investments is real,” ACEN Australia chief executive Anton Rohner said.
The syndicate banks comprise Bank of China in Manila and Hong Kong, CTBC Bank in Manila and Singapore and Standard Chartered Bank in Australia.
Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. was the green loan structuring bank, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia acted as the agent for the syndicated green term loan facility.
Herbert Smith Freehills was legal counsel for ACEN Australia, while King & Wood Mallesons was the counsel for the lenders.
ACEN said the funds would be allocated to finance the development and construction of its project pipeline in Australia, encompassing solar, wind, battery storage, pumped hydropower and energy storage.
The New England Solar farm, the first of these projects, is expected to be in operation by the middle of 2023.
The syndicated green term loan facility is part of ACEN’s Au$600 million target to capitalize on Australia’s renewables potential and is a follow-through to several transactions completed last year.
ACEN Australia executed an Au$100 million green long-term revolver with DBS Bank Australia In August 2022.
Two transactions were completed in September 2022: the Au$140 million green long-term facility signed with MUFG Sydney Branch and the Au$75 million green debt facility signed with the Australian government’s Clean Energy Finance Corp.
Parent firm ACEN guarantees ACEN Australia’s corporate term loan facilities. ACEN Australia represents ACEN’s renewable energy assets in Australia.
It has more than 1,500 MW of projects under construction or at an advanced stage of development, including the New England Solar, New England Battery, Stubbo Solar and Valley of the Winds projects in the NSW New England and Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zones and the Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain Wind project in North-West Tasmania. Alena Mae S. Flores