Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE), a renewable energy company, closed its $1.25 billion construction warehouse facility. The construction warehouse provides three years of committed capital designed to fund a multi-year build plan of advanced and construction-ready projects from LRE’s development pipeline.
Initially, the $1.25 billion revolving facility will fund the construction of six fully contracted wind, solar and battery storage projects, totaling nearly 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity, which are expected to be completed and begin operation throughout 2024 and 2025.
“LRE has experienced tremendous growth, and this financing arrangement supports our momentum by funding the construction of renewable energy projects in our development pipeline over the next three years,” Chris Loehr, senior vice president, finance at LRE, said. “We are pleased to have the continued support from leading financial institutions, reflecting a shared commitment to advance clean energy. This arrangement further demonstrates the market’s confidence in our strategy of delivering reliable, long-term renewable energy solutions for our customers and contributing meaningfully to the communities we serve and the environment.”
“Wells Fargo is pleased to support LRE and provide the company with capital to help scale and support its growing renewable energy platform,” Bobby Ausman, executive director in the renewables and asset finance Group in Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment bank, said. “The warehouse facility will further provide LRE optionality to access diverse sources of permanent capital as it pursues its strategy to develop and own long-term renewable energy solutions.”
Wells Fargo Bank is the administrative agent for the three-year credit facility. Wells Fargo Securities and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) acted as coordinating lead arrangers, bookrunners and green loan coordinators. Royal Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, BNP Paribas, Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Quebec, Intesa Sanpaolo, National Bank of Canada, Natixis, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Standard Chartered Bank, MUFG Bank and Truist Securities also acted as coordinating lead arrangers and bookrunners. Additional lenders included First Horizon Bank.
LRE’s legal counsel for the transaction was Stoel Rives; Latham & Watkins was lender counsel.
