Sunnovaprices latest solar ABS
Credit Suisse was the sole bookrunner for the $254.75m SNVA 20171 offering. The $191.75m senior ‘A’ class was priced to yield 4.95%. The bonds have a six year weighted average life and were assigned an A rating by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The $18m class ‘B’ notes carry a coupon of 6%, while the preplaced ‘C’ class of bonds have an 8% coupon. The deal is backed by 13,838 leases, power purchase agreements and service agreements, as well as 20 hedged solar renewable energy certificate contracts. The pricing for the senior bonds is 50bp wide of where the last solar ABS deal was priced. Californiabased Mosaic sold its first ever offering at the end of January, pricing its single tranche of notes to yield 4.45%.
With the Sunnova deal, issuance of solar ABS this year has surpassed all of 2016. SolarCity also priced a deal earlier this year, bringing total deal volume to three transactions totaling $538.7m. At the current pace, the market is on track to exceed the $1bn projected by more bullish observers at the start of 2017. Still, the bears say that volume will continue to underwhelm this year, as solar finance shops opt to tap a wider range of funds, including bank funding and portfolio sales.
