Aquila Clean Energy EMEA develops and operates wind and solar parks, hydropower plants and battery storage across Europe, managing a portfolio with a total capacity of more than 8.2GW. The company currently has a pipeline of more than 50 projects in Spain and Portugal of predominately solar PV (solar photovoltaics) and onshore wind assets with a total capacity of 2.6GW.
Aquila Clean Energy EMEA is part of Aquila Capital, an investment and asset development company focused on generating and managing essential assets. Currently, Germany-based Aquila Capital manages nearly €14 billion on behalf of institutional investors worldwide.
Sustainability is an integral part of the company’s investment strategies, processes and asset management. Aquila Capital has been carbon neutral since 2006 and aims to act carbon negative.
Seeking financing to deliver its project pipeline in Spain and Portugal, Aquila Clean Energy EMEA mandated NatWest to support in the role of Documentation Agent due to its knowledge and expertise of the European renewables market and as an original Revolving Facility lender. €1bn of debt was raised, made up of a €600 million Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) and a €400m Term Loan from the European Investment Bank. The RCF was supported by a seven-bank consortium with NatWest taking a tier 1 hold.
The €1bn financing package has a fully merchant structure day 1 with significant flexibility around asset accession and disposal, which is unprecedented at this scale and is an important milestone for the European renewables market. As the documentation bank NatWest took a leading role in the bank club to enable the dialogue between Aquila Clean Energy, the Lawyers and other Lenders and provided input into structuring aspects of the deal to help find a consensus position on key points of negotiation, delivering a successful outcome within the desired timetable.
The landmark transaction not only significantly increases the renewable energy generation capacity on the Iberian Peninsula but also contributes to the EU’s Green Deal.
Susanne Wermter, CEO of Aquila Clean Energy EMEA, commented: “We are extremely pleased to have secured this landmark financing in a very challenging market environment. This transaction constitutes the largest financing in the history of Aquila Clean Energy and Aquila Capital and demonstrates the creditability and appeal of our clean energy assets that aim to shape the European energy transition. I would like to thank all parties involved for their dedication and effort shown over the past twelve months to make this deal work.”
Lyudmil Banev, Project Finance at NatWest, said: “NatWest is delighted to have supported Aquila Capital in their landmark, market-defining renewable platform financing as a tier 1 lender and documentation bank. The €1bn of facilities will enable the construction of one of the largest greenfield Iberian solar and wind portfolios. The transaction will provide a sizeable contribution to the European energy transition and in turn support NatWest’s purpose, and our commitment to provide £100 billion of climate and sustainable financing to our customers by the end of 2025.”
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