Calpine closed a $1.1 billion Climate Bonds Certified financing for its wholly-owned subsidiary, Geysers Power Company (GPC).
MUFG Bank, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Natixis, Mizuho Bank, National Bank of Canada, Sumitomo Mitsui, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, CoBank, Rabobank, ING Capital and DZ Bank acted as lead arrangers on the transaction. In addition, MUFG Bank acted as administrative agent and first lien collateral agent, BNP Paribas acted as syndication agent, and Crédit Agricole and Natixis acted as green loan coordinators. White & Case acted as borrower counsel and Latham & Watkins acted as lender counsel on the transaction.
The financing consists of a $900 million senior secured term loan and a $200 million letter of credit facility. The green loan will bear interest at LIBOR plus 2% per annum, increasing by 0.125% every three years, and matures in 2027. GPC intends to use the proceeds of this financing to repay Calpine for equity invested in GPC, as well as to fund ongoing operations, maintenance and capital expenditures. Calpine intends to use its equity proceeds to repay corporate and project-level debt and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
DNV GL, a Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) approved verifier, has performed the pre-issuance verification of the green loan.
GPC owns 13 geothermal power plants at The Geysers, which is a complex of geothermal power plants in the U.S. and is responsible for providing almost one-tenth of the renewable power produced in California every year.
Calpine is a generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources.
Climate Bonds Initiative is an international, investor-focused not-for-profit working to mobilize the $100 trillion bond market for climate change solutions.
