Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund (MMIF) has completed project financing for Marena Renovables, a 396 MW project located in Oaxaca, Mexico. MMIF acquired a 32.5% stake in the project in March 2011.
MMIF says the nearly $700 million in financing is being provided by a syndicate of commercial banks, including Banorte, BBVA Bancomer, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, HSBC and Santander, and development banks, including the Inter-American Development Bank, Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Publicos, and Nacional Financiera. Danish export credit agency Eksport Kredit Fonden will guarantee a portion of the construction term loan, the MMIF says. The consortium was represented by New York-based law firm Chadbourne & Parke.
Vestas WTG Mexico, a subsidiary of Vestas Wind Systems of Denmark, will complete the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the project, including supplying 132 Vestas v90-3.0 MW turbines and fulfilling a 10-year service and maintenance agreement. Construction will begin next month, MMIF says.
Concurrent with the closing of the financing, Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA) and Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory arm of Macquarie Group, have sold their 67.5% interest in the project to Mitsubishi Corp. and PGGM, a Dutch pension fund. MMIF, which maintains a 32.5% interest, says it will contribute additional capital.
Subsidiaries of FEMSA and Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, an operating company of Heineken N.V., will purchase the project's output under a 20-year power purchase agreement, according to MMIF.
The wind farm is located in the isthmus of Tehuantepec in the southeastern region of Oaxaca, where the average regional wind speed exceeds 8.5 m/s.
