Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Allianz Global Investors has made an investment of over $400 million on behalf of its clients into the Grande Prairie Wind project. The GPW project is a 400-megawatt wind farm in Holt County, Nebraska "the largest wind energy project in the state's history" owned by BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
The project will increase Nebraska's wind energy capacity by nearly 50 percent and represents the first project in the state for BHE Renewables. This is also the first infrastructure debt renewable energy investment made by AllianzGI in the US market.
The financing consisted of unlisted bonds with a 20-year term that were privately placed with US and European investors via AllianzGI's established infrastructure debt platform. BHE Renewables will use the proceeds to reimburse the costs of the construction that began in 2015 and will be completed by the end of 2016.
The deal is the latest addition to AllianzGI's growing alternatives portfolio. The firm's infrastructure debt group runs approximately $2 billion in assets. Allianz Global Investors has approximately $541 billion in assets under management firmwide.
"BHE Renewables was able to tailor the structure to their goals and close the financing under an expedited timetable," Paul David, Head of Americas, Infrastructure Debt at AllianzGI said of the deal....................... To view our full article Click here
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