Cubico Sustainable Investments and two unnamed Canadian pension funds have achieved financial close on a green loan for the refinancing of three wind farms totalling 99MW in Italy.
The 99MW portfolio comprises three projects located in Campania, Apulia and Basilicata. They are all fully operational and range from 17.5MW to 54.4MW.
The total amount of non-recourse project finance debt raised was around €173m.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank and Societe Generale acted as structuring mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and lenders.
Credit Agricole CIB also acted as agent of the financing and issuing bank, with Credit Agricole Italia as account bank.
The lenders were advised by Norton Rose Fulbright on legal issues, Windfor on technical aspects and Willis on insurance.
Cubico was advised by Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners on legal aspects, JCRA on hedging and KPMG on tax and model audit.
The green loan complies with the Green Loan Principles and has been supported by infrastructure firm AECOM, Cubico said.
Cubico head of EMEA David Swindin said: “Once again our bank group has shown us a tremendous level of support in Europe with this financing, and we thank them for that.
“The region remains a key driver of growth for us and we are seeing good opportunities to build on our asset base in Europe, particularly in Italy and Iberia with a continued focus on operational excellence and shareholder value.”
Cubico head of Italy Alessandro Asperti said: “We are delighted to consolidate our relationships with this pool of lenders in one of our core countries through our first green loan.
“This achievement further highlights the strong commitment to environmental sustainability and renewable energy which sits at the heart of our culture.”