Leading international wind
energy company Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Group announced today
that it has closed a deal to finance further significant growth of its
European wind powered generation business. Through the financing process, “Project
Astraeus”, facilities totaling €225 million have been arranged
for the refinancing of existing investments and the construction and
term financing of five new wind farms. Upon completion of the new projects,
RES will own a geographically diversified portfolio of 200MW of wind
energy capacity in the UK , Ireland and France .
Mike O’Neill, Commercial Director of the RES Group said;
“Astraeus is a major transaction in the
wind sector and will result in a significant and diversified pan-European
ownership portfolio for the RES Group. It will mean that RES will
own 100% of five wind farms in the UK , four in Ireland and five
in France having a total installed capacity of almost 200MW. Electricity
generation using renewable resources will form an important and integral
part of RES’ future domestic and international business and
Astraeus is an important milestone in the growth of our portfolio.
We are very pleased with this financing package – it was closed
within seven weeks of mandating banks, which is testament to the
tremendous effort put into the deal by everyone involved."
The Astraeus facilities are fully underwritten by three Lead Arrangers:
Bank of Tokyo -Mitsubishi (“BTM”); BNP Paribas; and Royal
Bank of Canada (“RBC”). The financing comprises flexible
portfolio project finance facilities for 14 projects which can be extended
to incorporate further projects in the future. Syndication of the facilities
is expected to be launched to a select group of banks in April 2005.
RES engaged R oyal Bank of Canada BC Capital
Markets to advise on
the financing process. Legal and tax advice was provided to RES by
Norton Rose and Deloitte. The banks were advised by Linklaters, with
technical due diligence conducted by Garrad Hassan and Mott MacDonald
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CONTACTS:
Anna Stanford, RES: +44 (0)1923 299203 or +44
(0)776 1103465
Jane D’Amico, RBC Capital Markets:
+44 (0)20 7029 7685
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