- The US$110 million financing is provided to a project located in Tizate, municipality of Telica, Department of León, Nicaragua.
- This plant currently has an installed capacity of 72 MW and generates 13% of Nicaragua’s baseload. The new financing will increase the plant’s generation capacity to 82 MW.
Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura S.A. (CIFI) acted as mandated lead arranger for a US$110 million, 15-year senior loan, to partially refinance the San Jacinto geothermal plant and to finance a binary plant with an installed capacity of 10 MW. The geothermal plant is owned by Polaris Infrastructure Inc. through its subsidiaries. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The project is located in the Marribios mountain range, 20 km from the city of León, on one of the highest quality geothermal resource deposits in the world (since 1950). The plant currently has an installed capacity of 72 MW and generates 13% of Nicaragua’s baseload. With this new financing, the plant will increase its generation capacity to 82 MW, positively impacting Nicaragua’s energy matrix by producing more clean, renewable, and affordable energy, in addition to reducing the import of fossil fuels for thermal power plants.
Guillermo Sierra, Director of Structured and Corporate Finance at CIFI, said he was “proud to have led, alongside a great team of professionals (financial institutions, advisors), this financing with which Polaris expands its generation through clean energy”.
The development banks participating as lenders in this financing were: Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO) of the Netherlands (as Arranger), DEG – Deutsche Investitions- Und Entwicklungsgesellschaft Mbh (DEG) of Germany, and Proparco (AFD Group) of France.
The financing process was supported by advisors in different fields: Shearman & Sterling as New York counsel, Consortium Legal and Arias, Fábrega y Fábrega as local lawyers in Nicaragua and Panama, respectively, Lummus Consultants as technical advisor, Geothermex as resource advisor, and Gerencia Ambiental Internacional, as environmental and social advisor.
CIFI (Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura, S.A.)
CIFI is a non-bank financial institution with over 20 years of experience in infrastructure and energy financing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Created in 2001, the company has analyzed well over 600 projects and has participated in more than 200 transactions for a value of more than US$1.8 billion. CIFI has become a leading player in the ongoing trend toward sustainable infrastructure projects in Latin America and the region’s overall economic development.
Polaris Energy Nicaragua S.A. (PENSA)
PENSA is a subsidiary of Polaris Infrastructure Inc. a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PIF. PENSA operates and owns the San Jacinto-Tizate Geothermal Power Plant. PENSA is one of the largest producers of renewable energy in Nicaragua, which has contributed to the change in the country’s energy matrix.
FMO
About FMO
FMO is the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank. As a leading impact investor, FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in developing countries and emerging markets by investing in ambitious projects and entrepreneurs. FMO believes that a strong private sector leads to economic and social development and has a 50+ year proven track-record in empowering people to employ their skills and improve their quality of life. FMO focuses on three sectors that have high development impact: financial institutions, energy, and agribusiness, food & water. With a committed portfolio of EUR 9.3 billion spanning over 85 countries, FMO is one of the larger bilateral private sector development banks globally.
DEG
For almost 60 years, DEG has been a reliable partner for private companies and financial service providers, operating in developing markets. Its goal is to develop and design business solutions for a sustainable and economically successful transformation for its clients.
Since 2011 they are a subsidiary of KfW.
Proparco
Proparco is a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) focused on private sector development. It has been promoting sustainable economic, social, and environmental development practices for 40 years. Proparco provides funding and support to both businesses and financial institutions across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It seeks to partner with projects in key development sectors – including healthcare, infrastructure and renewable energies, agribusiness, financial institutions, and education – and to boost the contribution of the private sector to achieving the sustainable development goals adopted by the international community in 2015. As a means to this end, Proparco finances businesses that are instrumental in creating decent jobs that pay decent wages, in supplying essential goods and services, and in battling climate change.
