Decade-old Spanish PV portfolio refinanced via €207m placement

A portfolio of up-and-running Spanish solar PV has secured a refinancing worth hundreds of millions through private bonds. 

Izcalli Investments, an entity owned by Q-Energy Group, raised €207 million (US$234 million) earlier this week via an unlisted, 19-year fixed-rate set of bonds.

The proceeds will support nine PV plants built in past years in the Seville and Huelva provinces, in the southern region of Andalusia, with the help of Spain’s now-extinct subsidy programme.

Recently contacted by this publication, sources close to the transaction declined to provide a capacity figure for either the entire portfolio or across each of the nine plants.

The installations are relatively old – the first hit financial close ten years ago – and were acquired by Izcalli from developer third parties, PV Tech understands.

German insurer Talanx Group was among the European investors backing the bond placement, with South Korean financiers also coming on board.

The underlying PV projects were initially BBB-rated but were upgraded to AA by S&P Global Ratings after an external player – Assured Guaranty Europe (AGE) – stepped in to guarantee the scheme.

AGE’s intervention to take on some of the risk in return for a fee helped ease the transaction for European and South Korean insurers, which face capital constraints when backing less-safe ventures.

“As the first wrapped issuance in Spain post-financial crisis, this transaction is significant for the Spanish bond market, as well as for AGE,” said Dominic Nathan, managing director at the firm.

Meanwhile, AGE chief executive Nick Proud said the transaction is the largest the firm has guaranteed in the renewable space to date.

AGE, Proud added, expects to close various similar deals within the Spanish solar market over the next few months.

Tags: spain, southern europe, southern spain, andalusia, huelva, sevilla, q-energy, izcalli, assured guaranty europe, age, s&p, pv power plants, refinancing, solar finance, bond, private bond