Edison Mission Energy closed $617 million in debt financing for its 479MW Walnut Creek simple cycle natural gas-fired peaker plant in California on 27 July. The deal is the first greenfield thermal plant financed with debt at both the project company (opco) and holding company (holdco) levels in the US since the credit crunch climaxed in 2008.
Santander and Union Bank were joint bookrunners and BBVA, Scotia, Societe Generale and WestLB were mandated lead arrangers of the financing. The debt is split between a $442 million construction and term loan at the opco level, a $53 million holdco construction and term loan and $122 million opco letters of credit and working capital facilities. Banco Sabadell, CIBC, CIT, DnB Nor, DZ Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Siemens Financial Services, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation participated. The sponsor contributed $120 million in equity.
The opco and holdco debt structure is common for refinancings and plant...
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