Bank of the Year – BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas was heavily involved in the leading deals in Europe this year, building on its strong project finance base across the world.
It was the debt adviser on the first nuclear financing in Europe for decades, the 3.2GW Sizewell C in the UK. The bank has been advising on the deal since 2021 and kept with the EDF-led project through thick and thin.
The end result was a €5bn Bpifrance-backed bank tranche and a structured National Wealth Fund deal. It is a heavily government-backed financing but with substantial private sector involvement in the deal.
On a slightly shorter time scale, the bank underwrote, with three other lenders, the loan debt backing Apollo’s £4.5bn purchase of a 50% stake in the 2.9GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm scheme being developed by Orsted. Apollo is financing its share of the project with a combination of institutional debt and shorter-term bank facilities.
The bank advised on one of the largest EV deals seen in Europe thus far for pan-European operator Ionity. The company focuses on stop-to-charge on, or very close to, motorway service areas with high traffic and charge-while-you-stop at commercial/retail spaces.
The financing comprises €450m in committed green loan facilities with the option to increase the financing by up to €150m through an uncommitted accordion facility to support further growth.
Germany-based Ionity is a joint venture of BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Global Infrastructure Partners.
The bank was the financial adviser on the €1.185bn project financing for the Vulcan lithium hydroxide monohydrate production project in Germany which will supply the EV market. The deal took time to put together and had various tranches but was successfully closed.
BNP underwrote the debt on one of the leading data centre deals in Europe along with five others backing the acquisition of the Swiss company Green DC by IFM with a €1.5bn package. And it was involved in the €2.2bn Data4 refinancing.
The bank was involved in two steel financings at a time of market uncertainty given new US tariffs. It was a bookrunner on the €1.7bn financing for German steel producer SHS Group and its Power4Steel scheme, and it was a global co-ordinator bookrunner for a €900m financing for Italian steelmaker Arvedi.
In the biofuels sector it was an MLA on the €238.4m biomethane deal in Italy for Macquarie Capital and Actarus Renewables. In Poland it was the financial adviser and lead bank on the €130m deal for the biogas and biomethane deal for TotalEnergies and Hitec Vision.
Khoi-Anh Berger-Luong heads the real assets for EMEA team and within this department, Stephanie Mattenet heads energy, resources and infrastructure.
Deal of the Year – Baltyk II & III
Polenergia and Equinor closed a mammoth €5.8bn project financing for the Baltyk II & III offshore wind schemes in Poland and the size of the deal is not the only impressive thing in the endeavour. The projects reached financial close in a climate of commercial oversubscription, tenor stretch and the pricing dynamics they set in motion are expected to chart the rules for future deals in the local sector.
Polenergia and Equinor’s 50:50 joint venture closed financing for the 720MW Baltyk II and 720MW Baltyk III twin offshore wind projects in June via two €2.9bn project finance loans with longer-than-usual tenors of construction plus 22 years.
The debt was subscribed by 29 lenders, all acting as mandated lead arrangers and senior lenders.
They are Bank of China, BayernLB, BBVA, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, CIBC, CIC, Credit Agricole, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, DZ BANK, Helaba, HSBC, ING, KBC Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, LBBW, NIB, NordLB, Bank Pekao, PKO Bank Polski, Santander, SEB, SEK, SMBC, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and the EIB.
The largest overall ticket was subscribed by the EIB with €700m for the two schemes, other development financiers played a marginal role and commercial banks piled in, bringing each bank's average ticket size to about €140m across the two project financings.
Santander was financial adviser and KUKE was agent bank. Credit Agricole was commercial facility agent, security bank and intercreditor agent. KfW IPEX-Bank was Euler Hermes' agent, PKO Bank Polski was LC issuing bank and Societe Generale was account bank. Clifford chance was legal adviser to lenders, A&O Shearman was legal adviser to sponsors.
Equinor's stake in the schemes attracted four Nordic banks including Danske, NIB, SEB and Sweden's export credit agency SEK. Polenergia likely managed to attract CIBC as the Polish company is 32% held by Canadian infrastructure manager Brookfield. Local company Mansa Investments holds 43%.
While the 2023 Baltic Power project financing and this year's earlier Baltica 2 holdco financing featured more and larger development finance tickets, the Baltyk II & III DFI ticket was monopolised by the EIB with two tranches of €350m per project, while Poland's development bank Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego's ticket was about €50m per project.
Updated story: Mansa Investments is the largest shareholder in Polenergia
Power Deal of the Year – NeXtWind
In the height of summer, when most people are working on their holiday preparation rituals, NeXtWind closed an up to €2.7bn syndicated platform financing to repower its entire German onshore portfolio.
The deal included a €1.4bn ready-to-draw tranche and a €1.3bn accordion to repower NeXtWind's 450MW onshore wind assets into 1.4GW capacity by 2026 and to add 3GW of onshore wind capacity by 2028.
In November, the company drew €400m from the accordion into the main tranche to cover an additional 141MW repowering operation, previously bridge-financed.
The massive holdco debt package was led by Deutsche Bank, ING and LBBW as underwriters, MLAs and bookrunners and included 10 more banks. Deutsche was global coordinator and ING was green loan coordinator, facility and security agent. Additional lenders included KfW, KfW-IPEX, Commerzbank, SEB, Credit Agricole, Korea Development Bank, SMBC, China Construction Bank, Hamburg Commercial Bank and Royal Bank of Canada.
The lines include a guarantee facility for turbine supply agreements subscribed by Euler Hermes/Allianz Trade and Zurich, a bid bond facility covering collateral for awarded feed-in tariffs, a revolving credit facility to fund development and operating costs, a VAT facility to bridge reclaimable VAT receivables and a capex and acquisition facility.
Lazard was financial adviser to NeXtWind alongside WFW as legal adviser and Gleiss Lutz as legal counsel. Latham & Watkins was lead legal adviser to the lenders alongside Travers Smith as additional adviser.
NeXtWind is co-owned by Sandbrook Capital, PSP Investments and the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario.
The debt is distributed across one term loan to back acquisitions and four flexibly callable guarantee lines, which were subscribed by insurers and institutional investors.
The concept is based on a financing model for onshore wind projects that is unique in Germany to date and this financing approach opens up institutional debt capital on a new scale and creates the basis for scalable financing of infrastructure solutions in the renewable energy sector.
Portfolio Deal of the Year – EF Solare Italia
F2i-backed solar IPP EF Solare Italia raised a €2.2bn non-recourse project financing via 12 banks, refinancing its entire operational portfolio as well as its greenfield development pipeline. It was one of the largest and most extensive portfolio financings of the year in Europe.
The deal comprises €1.7bn in committed capital and a €500m accordion. The financing is structured as a hard mini-perm, with a six-year maturity and comprises multiple term loan tranches linked to the different purposes and perimeters
It involves refinancing the debt of its existing 850MW portfolio, financing revamp and repowering capex, funding the Italian greenfield portfolio and supporting the Spanish greenfield portfolio through the Renovalia arm.
The financing will mean EFSI will be 70% owned by Sorgenia, which in turn will be controlled by F2i, with a minority stake sold to Sixth Street. Predica will retain its minority ownership in EFSI.
The deal has been subscribed by BancoBPM, BayernLB, BBVA, BNP Paribas, BPER Banca, CDP Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Credit Agricole, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Societe Generale and UniCredit.
The new package will finance the development of 20 greenfield projects totalling 170MW as well as repowering and revamping initiatives for 300 operational schemes in the 850MW portfolio. The Italian schemes are spread all over the country. The portfolio in Spain is 300MW.
Legance was legal adviser to EF and Arcus was financial adviser. The lenders were advised by Chiomenti.
F2i is consolidating its energy transition activities under Sorgenia. It will hold 62% of Sorgenia and Sixth Street, 38%. Predica has retained its minority ownership of EFSI and Renovalia Tramontana. Fund manager Asterion has sold its Sorgenia’s shareholding. Sixth Street’s investment implies an enterprise value for Sorgenia of over €4bn.
Battery Deal of the Year – Fidra
EIG-backed Fidra Energy was one of the first battery storage developers to finance a scheme of utility sized scale. It financed the 1.4GW/3.1GWh Thorpe Marsh battery storage project near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, via a £594m project financing from financial adviser Santander, ABN AMRO, China Minsheng Bank, CIBC, Deutsche Bank, Investec, MUFG, NatWest, NordLB, Siemens, SMBC, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered.
At the same time it raised £445m in equity at a holdco platform level comprising £225m from EIG and £200m from the National Wealth Fund to finance Thorpe Marsh, its up and coming 500MW/1.1GW West Burton scheme and further opportunities in the UK including M&A. The debt-to-equity split on the Thorpe Marsh financing is between 65/35 and 70/30.
The project financing was in the works for more than a year. The debt raise was easier than expected with the debt 40% oversubscribed but the equity raising had been more challenging.
The debt financing is a seven-year hard mini-perm with a 15-year tenor and balloon just under 50% after year seven. The project has five units backed by three revenue floor contracts, two from EDF and Statkraft plus a tolling contract from Octopus Energy.
The contracts run for seven to 10 years. One of the units has been left fully merchant and will be covered by an optimisation contract. The project has a 15-year capacity market contract from 2028/29 that will provide around 10% of the revenues.
The first unit is due online in mid-2027 and the last in late 2027. Sungrow will supply its Power Titan 2.0 batteries to both Thorpe Marsh and West Burton. H&MW Engineering will be electricals contractor and Jones Bros the civil contractor. There will be no EPC wrap on the scheme.
Santander, boutique private placement firm New End, EIG Global Energy Partners Capital Markets, CMS, WSP and Baringa advised Fidra on Thorpe Marsh. Watson Farley Williams advised the lenders. White & Case advised EIG.
Transition Deal of the Year – Vulcan
Closing €1.185bn financing for a lithium hydroxide monohydrate production project is ambitious in itself and becomes a landmark when paired with an annual co-product of 275GWh of geothermal renewable power and 560GWh of heat.
Australia’s Vulcan Energy Resources signed the 13-year senior debt package in December to fund the first stage of its Lionheart project in Germany, just in time for its PFI Award.
Seven commercial lenders – ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, ING and Natixis plus Kommunalkredit, OCBC Bank and UniCredit – will provide €154m of ancillary facilities, comprising €125m working capital and €29m VAT facilities.
The financing includes €670m of direct lending facilities from the European Investment Bank, Export Development Canada, Export Finance Australia and Export & Investment Fund of Denmark.
BNP Paribas was equity and debt adviser while White & Case was legal adviser to Vulcan. Norton Rose Fulbright advised the lenders. Portland Advisers advised the export credit agencies.
Vulcan is raising up to €603m in equity for the project at the corporate level via Canaccord Genuity (Australia) and Morgan Stanley Australia Securities. Hochtief/ACS supplied €130m in this part of the financing to become a 15.7% owner in the company.
Vulcan secured €150m equity investment from KfW Raw Materials Fund in Vulcan's primary German holding subsidiary with a 14% interest. It has secured €133m in investment from Hochtief, Siemens Financial Services and European investor Demeter to jointly acquire 15% equity interest in the project company.
The company secured €100m from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Action and €104m from the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in grants to the project company.
The lithium offtakers for the scheme are Stellantis, Glencore, LG Energy Solution and Umicore. Vulcan‘s costs are estimated at US$4,72/tLCE which the company says sits in the lowest cost quartile for competitive supply.
PPP Deal of the Year – LusoLAV
Portugal’s ambitious plan to have Porto and Lisbon linked by a high-speed railway by 2032 came one step closer to its realisation in 2025, with the first of three sections for the project financed in the summer with a €2.2bn debt package.
The Mota Engil-led LusoLAV consortium signed the €2.2bn project financing for the first €2.6bn 71km phase of the government’s three-step, two-phase 30-year public-private partnership programme to build a high-speed railway between Porto and Lisbon.
The financing was structured as a club deal and included an €875m 28-year tranche from the EIB backed by an InvestEU-guarantee, a 28-year €560m institutional tranche subscribed by five investors and a 25-year €410m commercial portion subscribed by seven lenders, plus a €447m grant from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility.
The institutional financing was backed by Canada Life, Metlife, Manulife, Munich Re’s MEAG and La Banque Postale Asset Management.
The commercial tranche was subscribed in equal amounts by local lenders Novo Banco, Millennium BCP and state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos, plus international banks Natixis, BBVA, La Banque Postale and Deutsche Bank.
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer was legal adviser for English law, PLMJ acted as the Portuguese law legal adviser and Linklaters provided legal advice to the EIB.
Lisbon-based Eaglestone and London-based IMAP’s Portuguese branch were financial advisers to LusoLAV from bidding for the project, optimising the capital structure and structuring the financing.
Mota holds a 45% stake in the LusoLAV consortium alongside local infrastructure development partners Teixeira Duarte, Casais, Alves Ribeiro, Conduril and Gabriel Couto, as well as Spanish infra fund Serena.
The LusoLAV concession includes a five-year construction window expected to start by the end of the year followed by a 25-year operation and maintenance period with revenues due as availability payments from the Portuguese government based on net present value.
Infrastructure Deal of the Year – HARP
The £3bn Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme upgrade scheme was the first direct-procurement-for-customers concession deal financed in the UK water sector. The procurement model combines a private sector approach with a PPP style framework in order to fund the new infrastructure. The template will be rolled out across the water sector.
The deal is not only a trailblazer, it is huge. The project has an eight year construction contract with Strabag. United Utilities is the private sector client. The concessionaire is Cascade Infrastructure – the Strabag/Equitix/GLIL team.
The scheme involves upgrading the 109km water link with 50km of new tunnels between the Lake District, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. There will be limited operations and maintenance during operations as United Utilities will continue to run the aqueduct, a vital piece of its infrastructure
The concession will run the construction period plus 25 years. Long-term project finance was therefore needed to be make the economics work.
The £2.5bn project financing has a £300m first loss protection piece from the National Wealth Fund, an unfunded mezzanine tranche of debt designed to enhance the credit rating of the wider project debt similar in structure to the EIB’s project bond credit enhancement facility.
The debt financing is split between a 10-year bank capex loan and 30-year institutional tranche priced split into an index-linked tranche and a fixed-rate tranche.
The funders are Allianz, Aviva, Barclays, BBVA, BlackRock, Credit Agricole, CaixaBank, Canada Life, DZ Bank, Erste Group Bank, Helaba, KDB, KfW IPEX-Bank, L&G Investment Management, M&G, MetLife, NatWest, Norinchukin, New York Life, PIC, PPR, Rothesay, Sabadell, Scottish Widows, Siemens, SMTB, Societe Generale and SunLife.
The original Haweswater link was built between 1933 and 1955 and serves 2.5 million people. The largest new tunnels will be in the built-up area between Huncoat and Bury.
BCLP, Marsh, Alvarez & Marsal, AON, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, Ashurst, Walkers, Arcadis, Credit Agricole, Dalcour MacLaren, Gridlines, Fitch Ratings and Equitix Management Services advised on the deal.
UK water regulator has been pushing the DPC route as a way of funding large projects in the sector. An extra credit to the scheme was the fact it was financed as Thames Water hit the headlines.
