Invenergy’s 70 MW Campo Palomas wind project, located in the Salto Department of Uruguay, has issued investment-grade-rated project bonds for approximately $135.8 million in the U.S. Private Placement Market. The proceeds of the project bond issuance will be used to refinance the existing construction loan.
Campo Palomas is Invenergy’s first project in Uruguay as the company expands its presence in Latin America. The wind farm, composing 35 Vestas V110-2.0 MW turbines, began commercial operations earlier this year.
The power from the project is delivered to the country’s grid under an agreement with Administración Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE), the Uruguayan state-owned utility.
“We are excited to announce commercial operations for Campo Palomas, which expands our portfolio to Uruguay and deepens our presence in Latin America,” states Meghan Schultz, senior vice president of structured finance at Invenergy. “We are very pleased to have executed a noteworthy investment-grade transaction for a renewable project and to see it well received by the market and oversubscribed.”
The issuance is under an A/B Bond structure involving a capital markets solution under the umbrella of the Inter-American Investment Corp. (IIC), the private-sector arm of the IDB Group. The deal was structured and arranged by DNB Markets Inc. and the IIC and was marketed by DNB Markets Inc. as sole placement agent. The project bond also received a green bond certification from DNV GL.
“This innovative structure of issuing a project bond under the IIC umbrella, the overall credit quality of the country and the project were instrumental in attracting investors for this successful issuance,” notes Emilio Fabbrizzi, head of project finance for Latin America at DNB Markets Inc.
The Campo Palomas project and the project bond issuance are under Invenergy’s renewables arm, Invenergy Renewables LLC.
