NORTHLAND PICKS ADVISORS FOR 1 GW TAIWAN OFFSHORE WIND
09 February 2018 | 08:21 GMT
Green Giraffe and Taiwan’s Cathay United Bank (CUB) have been co-mandated as financial advisors for two Taiwan offshore wind projects with a combined capacity of IGW.
The 532MW Hailong II and 513MW Hailong III offshore wind projects are being co-developed by Yushan Energy and Canada’s Northland Power, which own 40% and 60% equity stakes in the projects respectively.
The FAs will help the developers raise a syndicated project loan. The European green finance specialist will serve as lead international financial advisor while Taiwanese lender CUB was appointed local financial advisor.
The amount of debt to be raised awaits confirmation of the projects final approved capacity, to be determined by goverment’s official selection process to be held in April. The grid capacity allocation for the two projects is also being finalised a source explained.
At the same time, it is likely that Yushan will look to sell down its stake or find an additional partner for the projects, a second source told Inframation. Yushan is a subsidiary of Singapore-based developer Enterprize Energy.
“What we are seeking to do is to maximise the opportunity for Taiwanese participation not only through both supply of equipment and services but also through provision of capital,” the first source added.
The projects will involve investment of NTD 150bn USD 5gn. Both are to be located about 40-50km off the coast of Changhua, 190km southwest of Taipei.
Construction will take place between 2019 and 2024 with operations targeted to commence from 2022.
“When it comes to financing, the well-established developers such as Orsted, WPD, Northland and CIP will likely bring their existing investing partners such as pension funds and insurance companies from Europe along with them to Taiwan,” said Edgare Kerkwijk, board member with Asia Wind Energy Association.
Despit the developers’ strong hope to tap local lenders, there is still ‘a lot of room’ for foreign investors and debt providers in the market, he said. But he noted that it might be a bit early for developers to pick FAs given uncertainties over the final capacity to be approved by the goverment.
“On the other hand, people want to gain the first-mover advantage by engaging in the banks earlier,’ Kerkwijk said.
The FA appointment came after German wind giant WPD kicked off the financing process for it Taoyuan wind farms last month, appointing Japan’s SMBC as financial advisor. Meanwhile, Swancor mandated BNP Paribas as FA for its latest syndicated loan, for the second phase of the second phase of the Formosa I project.
CUB along with BNP Paribas and EnTie Commercial Bank were mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for a NTD 2.5bn syndicated load for the Phase I of Swancor’s Formosa I project.
Green Giraffe advised Northland Power on the 332 MW Nordsee One Offshore wind farm in Germany and 600MW Gemini offshore wind farm in the Netherlands.