IDB, China back 140MW of Uruguay wind development

May 12:


Matt Rubens via Flickr

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with support from a new Chinese financing mechanism has approved $216m in loans for Uruguay’s Colina Arias and Valentines wind projects of 70MW each.

Colina Arias will receive a total of $108m, of which $72m will come from the IDB and another $36m will be disbursed by the China Co-financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean, a special fund created to co-finance projects with the multilateral in the region.

Colina Arias is being built by Uruguayan state company UTE – which will also be the off-taker of its power – with total investments estimated at $179.7m. UTE is raising another $17m from a commercial bank.

The loan will be made to a trust fund called Fideicomiso Financiero Arias, which will later stage an IPO to raise 80% of the project's equity. The other 20% will be owned by UTE.

This will be second IPO to be held by UTE to finance a wind farm project in Uruguay. In March, UTE raised $369m on the local capital markets to finance the 142MW La Pampa wind project.

Valentines, a project also being developed by UTE with the same capacity and investment ticket, will have the same loan amounts and financing structure from the IDB and the Chinese fund as Colina Arias, including the IPO. The borrower in this case will be Areaflin and the IPO will be held after Colina Arias' offering, IDB said.

Source: http://www.rechargenews.com/wind/1399737/idb-china-back-140mw-of-uruguay-wind-development?