FINANCING: Sosteneo working with lender Group on Enel flexgen acquisition
Sosteneo is understood to have lined up a circa EUR 900m debt package from a pool of lenders to back its acquisition of a 49% stake in Enel’s 2.6 GW flexible generation portfolio.
The Generali Investments-backed group announced on March 1 that it had reached a deal with the Italian utility for the holding, following a year-long bidding process, with the transaction forecast to conclude later in 1H24 subject to conditions precedent as well as regulatory and governmental approvals.
Sosteneo is now understood to be working with lenders including BayernLB, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, ING and SocGen on the financing of the acquisition, with the debt package mooted to include a EUR 700m-plus term loan, in addition to ancillary facilities.
The Enel Libra Flexsys portfolio comprises 23 BESS projects with a total capacity of 1.7 GW and three Open-Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) projects with a total capacity of 900 MW, with project revenues fully contracted for 15 years through capacity agreements with Enel as well as capacity payments from Enel that are backed by Terna, Italy’s transmission system operator.
The term loan is projected to have a tenor in line with the 15-year capacity market payments the BESS and OCGT assets will receive, while pricing is expected to be in the 200bps plus Euribor range.
Enel originally launched the sale of an up to 80% interest in its BESS and OCGT portfolio in 1H23, before in late 2023 downsizing the disposal to a 49% interest.
The Italian utility is understood to have taken binding bids for the holding in late January, with DIF and InfraVia having also been connected to the latter stages of the process, in addition to Sosteneo.
Sosteneo was advised on its bid by SURE (financial) and Green Horse (legal). Enel was advised by Mediobanca (financial).
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