Peru’s wind energy has received financings worth a total of US$254mn for the Marcona and Tres Hermanas wind farms.

Natixis acted as sole institutional tranche underwriter, sole subordinated loan placement agent and sole hedging provider, and – together with Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CAF), the Development Bank of Latin America, junior lender of the financing – as financial advisor and mandated lead arranger. Cobra, the sponsor, is a subsidiary of the ACS Group, a construction, infrastructure and services company.

The financings comprise various debt instruments, such as junior debt and senior debt, including a fixed-rate tranche for institutional investors. US Export-Import Bank, and several development banks including DEG, FMO and ProParco participated as senior lenders, whereas Natixis was the only commercial bank participating at the primary level. Details of the debt structuring were not disclosed and neither was the exact tenor of the loan, although Pascal Soldaini, Natixis’ head of project finance for Latin America, told GTR it was “longer than 15 years”.

Natixis’ Jean-Philippe Adam, head of the Latin American platform, says: “The Marcona and Tres Hermanas financings demonstrate the commitment of Natixis to support our clients worldwide, and especially in Latin America which is an expanding region for the bank.”

Marcona’s is the first commercial-scale wind project to achieve commercial operations in Peru. It started operating in April 2014, while Tres Hermanas is expected to begin operations in December 2015. Once in operation, the combined project will be Peru’s largest wind farm by installed capacity, at 129.25MW.