Glenfarne Group Announces up to $700 Million in New Financings to Fund Power Infrastructure Investments in the Americas
NEW YORK: Glenfarne Group, LLC (“Glenfarne” or the “Company”), a developer, owner-operator and industrial manager of energy and infrastructure assets, today announced it has secured up to $700 million in capital for its subsidiary, EnfraGen, LLC (“EnfraGen”), to fund new investments in the Americas. EnfraGen focuses on the development, acquisition and operation of high-value, long-lived power and power infrastructure assets in the Americas.
The new financings will fund the growth of two EnfraGen subsidiaries, Prime Energía SpA (“Prime Energía”) and Fontus Hydro, LLC (“Fontus Hydro”). Prime Energía will use the proceeds to fund the construction of backup power plants in Chile and refinance existing debt. Fontus Hydro will use the proceeds to acquire three run-of-river hydroelectric power plants in Panama. With these new investments, EnfraGen’s consolidated portfolio of operational and construction assets across its subsidiaries will total approximately 750 MW of capacity in the Americas.
The new financings are to be provided by a syndicate of banks led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”) and Natixis, and by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE:APO) (the “Apollo Funds”). SMBC and Natixis are acting as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for a $400 million syndicated senior secured loan to Prime Energía, with additional lenders expected to join the bank syndicate in the coming weeks. The Apollo Funds are providing EnfraGen with capital of up to $300 million to fund current operational and construction assets and future expansions.
“Today’s announcement advances Glenfarne’s strategy of identifying and building specialized platforms in power and infrastructure across the investment grade Americas,” said Brendan Duval, Managing Partner of Glenfarne and Chief Executive Officer of EnfraGen. “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.”
Prime Energía will use the proceeds to construct five new backup power generation plants across Chile and to refinance its existing senior debt. The construction will provide over 500 skilled engineering and construction jobs across multiple regions in Chile. These new power plants will support the growth and adoption of renewable energy onto the Chilean electrical grid by providing backup power that addresses the intermittent generation of renewables and transmission system outages that cause supply/demand imbalances, ensuring stability of the grid. Based on Prime Energía’s market research, an expansion of renewables capacity requires a nearly equal expansion of backup capacity to support the grid’s addition of renewable power sources.
These long-lived, low-risk assets, once complete, will increase Prime Energía’s current capacity to 698 MW. Prime Energía currently owns and operates three backup power plants and one solar PV plant in Chile.
The transaction represents the first acquisition for Fontus Hydro, whose core business is to own and operate run-of-river hydroelectric power plants. The acquisition includes three operating power plants in the province of Chiriquí that are supported by contracted revenues. The facilities also are able to sell power into the Regional Electricity Market (“MER”), which comprises six countries in Central America that share cross-border energy generation, contributing to a stable and efficient grid that optimizes energy resources.
About Glenfarne Group
Glenfarne is a privately held energy and infrastructure development and management firm based in New York City with offices in Panama City, Panama and Santiago, Chile. Glenfarne’s seasoned executives, asset managers and operators develop, acquire, manage and operate energy and infrastructure assets throughout North and South America. For more information please visit www.glenfarnegroup.com.
About EnfraGen, LLC
EnfraGen is a privately held company which focuses on the development, acquisition and operation of power and power infrastructure assets in the Americas. EnfraGen’s subsidiaries include Prime Energía SpA, its backup power subsidiary; Fontus Hydro, LLC, its run-of-river hydroelectric power subsidiary; and, Integrated Fibre, LLC, its biomass energy subsidiary. EnfraGen’s portfolio of operational and construction assets across its subsidiaries offers a combined capacity of approximately 750 MW as of June 2018. The company, including its affiliates and subsidiaries, is supported by a team of approximately 150 professionals. EnfraGen maintains offices and assets in Chile, Panama and the United States, and is part of the Glenfarne Group, LLC family of companies.
About Apollo Global Management, LLC
Apollo is a leading global alternative investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Bethesda, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $247 billion as of March 31, 2018 in credit, private equity, and real assets funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.apollo.com.
About Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is a Japanese banking corporation, and a wholly owned banking subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC Group). The Americas Division of SMBC Group has offices and subsidiaries in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Toronto, Bogota, Leon, Lima, Mexico City, Santiago, and Sao Paulo, and provides a broad range of financial products and services through its international network. For more information about SMBC Group please visit: www.smbcgroup.com.
About Natixis
Natixis is the international corporate and investment banking, asset management, insurance and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the 2nd-largest banking group in France with 31 million clients spread over two retail banking networks, Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne.
With more than 21,000 employees, Natixis has a number of areas of expertise that are organized into four main business lines: Asset & Wealth Management, Corporate & Investment Banking, Insurance and Specialized Financial Services.
A global player, Natixis has its own client base of companies, financial institutions and institutional investors as well as the client base of individuals, professionals and small and medium-size businesses of Groupe BPCE’s banking networks.
Listed on the Paris stock exchange, it has a solid financial base with a CET1 capital under Basel 3(1) of €11.7 billion, a Basel 3 CET1 Ratio(1) of 10.7% and quality long-term ratings (Standard & Poor’s: A / Moody’s: A2 / Fitch Ratings: A).
(1) Based on CRR-CRD4 rules as reported on June 26, 2013, including the Danish compromise – without phase-in.
Figures as at March 31, 2018
