TerraForm also owns First Wind’s operating assets.
TerraForm Power, Inc., an owner and operator of clean energy power plants, announced the acquisition of 521 MW (net) of operating wind power plants from Atlantic Power. Altlantic Power is an independent power producer with a well-diversified fleet of power generation assets throughout the United States and Canada.
These five wind farms are located in high-wind areas of Oklahoma and Idaho. The assets are contracted under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with investment grade utilities, and with a weighted-average credit rating of A3. The PPAs have a weighted-average remaining life of 18 years.
The portfolio is expected to generate average annual adjusted EBITDA of $56 million and average annual CAFD of $44 million over the next 10 years. This represents a 9%1 unlevered cash-on-cash return.
Equity consideration for the portfolio will be $350 million, subject to working capital and other customary adjustments. The power plants have $165 million of project debt that the company intends to retire, and approximately $110 million proportional share of project debt that will remain outstanding.
TerraForm has secured fully committed bridge financing of up to $515 million to support the transaction. The company intends to fund the acquisition with a drop-down warehouse facility in partnership with third-party equity investors and its sponsor SunEdison. This transaction would provide TerraForm with increased visibility to long-term dividend growth from contracted operating assets. Concurrent with the acquisition closing, these 521 MW of projects would be added to the TerraForm Call Right Projects list, increasing the total from 3.4 GW to 4 GW, and increasing the contracted call right projects from 2.5 GW to 3 GW.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Atlantic Power. This landmark transaction illustrates the strength and agility of the combined TerraForm-SunEdison platform, as well as the robustness of our proprietary deal pipeline,” said Carlos Domenech, Chief Executive Officer of TerraForm Power. “We expect the warehouse facility to be an innovative financing structure that provides repeatable and scalable funding to secure future growth; we expect the drop-down returns to be at parity with the acquisition yields.”
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Morgan Stanley acted as the exclusive financial advisor to TerraForm Power.
Acquisition Highlights:
- $56 million of expected adjusted EBITDA (10 year average)
- $44 million of expected CAFD (10 year average)
- $350 million in initial cash consideration
- $165 million in project debt that the company intends to retire
- 9% expected cash-on-cash unlevered return
TerraForm Power
www.terraform.com
Filed Under: Financing, News, Projects, Uncategorized
