Alantra acts as sole financial advisor to Solaria on the issuance of the first A/B bond rated by S&P in Latin America

Dec 2020

Private placement

Value $30 million

Madrid – Alantra, the independent global mid-market investment banking, alternative asset management and credit portfolio advisory firm, has acted as sole financial advisor to Solaria Energía y Medio Ambiente, S.A. (“Solaria”) on the issuance of an A/B bond to refinance  two solar photovoltaic plants in Uruguay for an amount close to $30m.

Listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange Ibex 35 since October, Solaria is the leading Spanish independent company in the generation and sale of electricity from solar plants, free of carbon emissions. The two projects refinanced are Yarnel and Natelu, two solar photovoltaic plants with an installed capacity of c. 23MW located in the provinces of Rio Negro and Mercedes in Uruguay.

The refinancing has been carried out through an A/B bond, an innovative financing structure involving a multilateral development bank and an institutional investor through a combination of loans and bonds. This is the fourth transaction closed in this format in Latin America and the first with an S&P rating. The bond has been fully subscribed by one institutional investor.

The Notes have been rated with BBB Investment Grade thanks to a stable cash generation and a limited operational risk and have also obtained S&P Global Ratings Green Evaluation E1, the highest from this rating agency, reinforcing Solaria’s commitment to the best environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

The transaction has enabled the company to optimize the capital structure of the projects, increase its debt size, issue an extraordinary dividend, and expand its expected future annual dividends. All the above is at a lower cost of financing than existing financing.

Solaria hired Alantra as its sole financial advisor and Clifford Chance as its international legal advisor.