Foresight Solar Fund Limited : Long-Term Refina...
Foresight Solar Fund Limited ("the Fund" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has reached Financial Close on a £160 million long-term debt facility. This facility will wholly refinance the Company's £150 million short-term acquisition facility currently in place.
The long-term facility will be provided by Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions ("MIDIS") and Abbey National Treasury Services ("Santander") as follows:
| Tranche | Amount | Tenor | Coupon/Margin |
| Fixed-rate tranche | £63 million | 18 years | 378bps |
| Inflation-linked tranche | £63 million | 18 years | 108bps |
| Term Loan tranche | £34 million | 8 years | 170bps |
The Term Loan tranche is priced over the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") and will benefit from an interest rate swap. The expected average interest cost of debt at Financial Close is 2.59%.
Following Financial Close, the Company's total outstanding long term debt is approximately 36% of Gross Asset Value ("GAV"), if measured against assets as at 31 December 2015.
In addition, the Company has entered into a new, short-term revolving acquisition facility with Santander at favourable terms as follows:
| Amount | Tenor | Libor + |
| £40 million | 3 years | 205bps |
The short-term facility will provide the Company with the flexibility to take advantage of future pipeline opportunities.
The Company has also finalised an agreement with a single provider to enter into a 5-year Power Purchase Agreement for 15 of the 16 assets in the portfolio following a wide portfolio tender process.
It is intended that an advisory fee will be paid to Foresight Group CI Limited ("Foresight Group") at Financial Close. Due to the complex nature of the refinancing, the Board instructed Foresight Group to undertake the transaction given their past Project Finance experience, most notably the issue of a listed index-linked solar bond to refinance an existing UK solar portfolio in 2013.
Alex Ohlsson, Company Chairman, said: "Given the current favourable market conditions, we believe the facility has been secured at an attractive rate, optimising the capital structure of the Fund and further underpinning returns to investors."
ENDS
| For further information, please contact: | |
| Foresight Group | |
| Elena Palasmith epalasmith@foresightgroup.eu | +44 (0)203 667 8100 |
| Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited | +44 (0)20 7710 7600 |
| Mark Bloomfield Neil Winward Tunga Chigovanyika | |
| J.P. Morgan Cazenove William Simmonds | +44 (0)20 7742 4000 |
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Foresight Solar Fund Limited via Globenewswire
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