Renewable energy private equity fund EnerCap closed EUR 50.56M debt financing for 42MW Croatia windfarm

Prague, 24-6-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — The EnerCap Power Fund, a private equity fund focusing on the renewable energy and environmental sectors in Central and Eastern Europe has closed the financing for the 42MW first phase of its Obrovac windfarm located in western Croatia.

The debt facilities comprise a EUR 50.56 million, 15-year term loan facility which is provided jointly by two of EnerCap’s existing lenders, UniCredit Bank Austria and Erste Group Bank (with support from its Croatian subsidiary Erste&Steiermärkische Bank) and a VAT facility provided by the UniCredit subsidiary Zagrebačka banka. The Obrovac project also benefits from a guarantee provided by EKF, Denmark’s export credit agency.

The project, which is about to start construction, comprises 14 Vestas V90 3.0MW wind turbines for a total initial installed capacity of 42MW. It is located in western Croatia near the town of Obrovac, approximately 20km inland from the coastal port of Zadar. The windfarm is expected to start commercial operations in Q2 2014. The EnerCap Power Fund also aims to proceed shortly with a 12MW second phase, which will make Obrovac, at 54MW, the largest windfarm in Croatia.

“We’re delighted to secure this financing for the Obrovac windfarm which marks our first investment in Croatia and the last investment from this Fund. We are now fully committed and almost fully invested which is a remarkable achievement given the state of the project financing markets since the Fund closed in 2007,” commented Shane Woodroffe, partner at EnerCap Capital Partners. “Now with the Fund’s projects all in construction or operations, we can start to think about evaluating potential exit strategies”.

EnerCap Capital Partners, based in Prague, manages the EnerCap Power Fund which last year completed the acquisition of a 30% stake in the 80MW Chirnogeni windfarm in Romania. On the Obrovac transaction, the EnerCap Power Fund was advised by Law Office Stanić in Zagreb and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, London.

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