by Giuliano Castagneto
A 1.1 billion euro green loan and a new fund, called Tages Helios Net Zero and dedicated to renewable energy, while also the private debt fund, which was set up a year ago (see here a previous article by BeBeez),Ā will soon be operational. These are the news of Tages Capital sgr, an alternative asset manager, founded by Panfilo Tarantelli, Sergio Ascolani and Salvatore Cordaro, who were then joined by Umberto QuadrinoĀ and Francesco Trapani (see the press release here).
The 1.1 billion euro loan, compliant with the green loan principles of the Loan Market Association and the first green loan for Tages, was made available by a pool of eight banks, which includes BNP Paribas Italia, Intesa Sanpaolo, SociƩtƩ GƩnƩrale, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Bayerische Landesbank Anstalt, Banco BPM, BPER Banca and CaixaBank, all with the role of green loan coordinators, mandated lead arrangers, lenders and bookrunners. Intesa Sanpaolo also acted as custodian bank and agent bank.
The loan was granted to Ortigia Power 61 srl, a company indirectly owned, through the sub-holding Telkes Italia, by the Tages Helios II fund. The operation, which was completed on July 26, but was only announced last week, has already seen a first use relating to the refinancing of the debt connected to wind and photovoltaic portfolios already acquired, with a total installed capacity of approximately 202 MW. Further uses of credit lines are also envisaged for the acquisition of new portfolios of plants and also as a function of other needs of the perimeter.
The maxi loan is divided into eight distinct tranches, all maturing on 31 December 2033 with the exception of the fifth (a revolving credit facility) which will expire on 30 June 2034. All tranches pay a rate corresponding to the 3-month euribor plus 150 basis points from July 26, 2022 to June 30, 2028, by 165 basis points from July 1, 2028 to June 30, 2031, and by 180 basis points from July 1, 2031 to maturity. The first tranche amounts to 36.8 million euros; the second at 253 million; the third at 531; the fourth to 64.3; the fifth at 145; the sixth at 2.9; the seventh at 20 and the eighth at 47.1.
Tages Capital sgr and Delos Service (which currently manages all the plants owned by the Tages Helios fund and the Tages Helios II fund) were supported by the law firm Gianni & Origoni for all the legal aspects relating to the structuring of the financing transaction and the related financial documentation. The creditor banks were supported for all aspects relating to the structuring and documentation of the transaction by Clifford Chance as legal consultant, by Fichtner Italia as technical and environmental consultant, by Aon Italia as insurance consultant. Finally, EY provided support for the revision of the financial model. The law firms Chiomenti, Legance, Bonelli Erede and Clifford Chance also supported the creditors of the companies that, thanks to this operation, paid off the bank loans and pre-existing leases. The notary activities were handled by ZNR Notai.
Umberto Quadrino, chairman of the parent company Tages spa and investment director of Tages Capital, commented: “This operation has a threefold value: it allows to finance the recent acquisitions of the Tages Helios II fund at competitive conditions, it provides the means for the investments necessary to improve the performance of existing photovoltaic systems and finally make available the credit lines necessary to complete the investments of the Tages Helios II fund. We have also further expanded our network of Italian and international banking relationships, involving a team of selected credit institutions among those who share our strategy of participation in the energy transition process in the direction traced by the EU climate package Fit for 5Ā and the objectives of the Italian PNRR. This important operation therefore allows us to look at the next steps with reasonable optimism “.
And these include the second of the novelties that Tages has in store for the second half of the year. In fact, Mr. Quadrino added: “In addition to completing the Tages Helios II investments shortly, we plan to proceed with the launch of the next fund, Tages Helios Net Zero, recently approved by the board of Tages Capital”. This is a fund with a total fundraising target of 750 million euros and which, unlike the previous funds dedicated to renewable energy, Tages Helios and Tages Helios II, will also develop green field projects, so it will not only acquire plants that are already operational and connected. to the network.
We recall that Tages Helios II had closed the fundraising in May 2021 with 477 million euros of commitments (see here a previous article by BeBeez), widely beating the initial target of 350-400 million euros (see here a previous article by BeBeez), thanks to the contribution of the Enpam Foundation, Sara Assicurazioni, three banking foundations, family offices and private professional investors. As for Tages Helios I, now fully invested, it had closed its fundraising in January 2019 at 253 million euros (see here a previous article by BeBeez). Now the two funds now have renewable energy production plants under management for a total of 612 MW, of which 80 MW of wind power.
Among the latest Helios II operations, we recall that last March it acquired from Athena Investments A / S, in partnership with an independent operator, 16 photovoltaic plants in Puglia, Basilicata and Sicily for a global installed capacity of 12.5 MW (see here a previous article by BeBeez). While in December 2021 the fund had acquired the entire photovoltaic portfolio of the NextPower II fund, managed by Nextenergy Capital (see here a previous article by BeBeez). In detail, the Tages fund acquired 105 plants, for a total power of 149 MW, located throughout the national territory. The portfolio was built with the 21 acquisitions conducted by NextEnergy Capital during the fund’s investment period. Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco Santander and BPER Banca partially financed the transaction by granting a loan of 240 million, against a portfolio valuation of approximately 420 million euro.
