Glenfarne Group, a New York-based investment management company, said that it has secured a capital of up to $700m for its subsidiary EnfraGen to finance new power infrastructure investments across the Americas.
Image: Glenfarne raises $700m financing for power infrastructure investments. Photo: courtesy of adamr/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The capital will be provided by a syndicate of banks led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (SMBC) and Natixis, and also by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
The company said that the new financings will be used for funding the growth of Prime Energía and Fontus Hydro, which are subsidiaries of EnfraGen.
Prime Energía will utilize a $400m syndicated senior secured loan from SMBC and Natixis to finance the construction of five new backup power projects across Chile and also for refinancing its existing senior debt. Construction of the projects will provide 500 skilled engineering and construction jobs across various regions in Chile.
The five low-risk assets, upon their completion, will take the current capacity of Prime Energía to 698MW. As of now, Prime Energía owns and operates three backup power plants along with a solar power plant in Chile.
On the other hand, Fontus Hydro will use $300m of capital arranged by Apollo Funds to purchase three run-of-river hydroelectric power projects in Panama. The three operating hydro power plants are located in the Chiriquí province and are backed by contracted revenues.
According to Glenfarne, the hydro projects will also sell power into the Regional Electricity Market (MER), which is made up of six countries in Central America.
Overall, EnfraGen through the new power infrastructure investments will grow its portfolio of operational and construction assets across its subsidiaries to nearly 750MW in the Americas.
Glenfarne managing partner and EnfraGen CEO Brendan Duval said: “Today’s announcement advances Glenfarne’s strategy of identifying and building specialized platforms in power and infrastructure across the investment grade Americas.
“Having the support and partnership of these new investors, in addition to our existing equity partners, validates Glenfarne’s expansion strategy for EnfraGen and positions us for success.”