Northwester 2 prices inside 160bp
Sponsors of the €700 million ($803 million) 219MW Northwester 2 offshore wind project – Parkwind (70%) and Sumitomo Corporation (30%) – have reached financial close on the funds backing the scheme.
Financed on a debt to equity ratio of 75:25, the deal comprises a €481 million debt portion with a tenor of 17-year-plus-construction. The EIB is providing €210 million of which EKF is guaranteeing €100 million and the European Fund for Strategic investments €110 million. Pricing on the EIB portion is said to be very competitive at around 125bp-155bp over Euribor.
The remaining debt is being provided by commercial lenders: BNP Paribas Fortis, Rabobank, SMBC, ASN Bank, Belfius Bank, Triodos Bank, ING Bank, Societe Generale and KBC Bank. With a 17-year PPA in place lenders can take comfort from the fact there is no tail period on the debt.
Legal advisers are Loyens & Loeff for the sponsors and Jones Day for the lenders. Clifford Chance advised the EIB, and Kromann Reumert advised EKF. Mott McDonald is lenders’ technical advisor.
