Legal & General has agreed to a $65.8 million solar debt transaction with Ahana Operations, LLC (“Ahana”) - the renewable subsidiary of ATN International, Inc., a NASDAQ listed US-based holding company - to refinance a portfolio of 59 solar panel installations.
6 Feb 2017
Using photovoltaic (PV) technology, the ground-mounted and rooftop power generation installations are located in California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, with a total capacity of 45.8 MWh supplied to the electricity grid.
This is Legal & General’s first solar renewables debt transaction in America and follows its maiden US infrastructure deal last year when the business backed a public-private partnership to help fund an extension of the University of California Merced campus.
The transaction is a private placement which was fully funded by L&G companies, including Legal & General Retirement, and managed by Legal & General Investment Management Real Assets (LGIM Real Assets), in order to provide long-term income to pay customer’s pensions. The private placement comprises two series of notes, both of which are amortising, with maturity dates of 31 March 2029 and 30 September 2031.
Charles-Henry Lecointe, Senior Infrastructure Investment Manager at LGIM Real Assets, said: “This marks the first US renewables transaction secured for our clients. Together with the University of California Merced P3 campus transaction last year, this demonstrates our ability to source high quality infrastructure transactions across America. We have built up a strong track record in the renewables space, having now closed five transactions in the UK and the US, and will continue to target this sector as part of Legal & General’s wider approach to real asset investments.”