LocationsENERPARC, Commerzbank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg conclude one of the largest Ger-man transactions to refinance a 315-megawatt photovoltaic portfolio.
ENERPARG AG, one of the largest German and European solar park developers, announced today the completion of a refinancing of existing photovoltaic parks. The volume of the transaction amounts to EUR 257 million, which was provided as a syndicated loan for Enerparc Solar Service Holding 2 GmbH, a company of the ENERPARC Group, by Commerzbank AG and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in equal parts.
Among other things, the loan serves to redeem and refinance existing loans for a 315-megawatt solar park portfolio, which is made up of existing operational plants of the ENERPARC Group. This transac-tion is considered one of the largest portfolio financings of solar parks in Germany to date.
The ENERPARC Group was supported by Eight Advisory as financial and tax advisor. Commerzbank AG and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg were advised on all legal aspects by the law firm Simmons & Simmons LLP.
Christoph Koeppen, CEO and Chairman of the Board of ENERPARG AG: "The 2023 amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), which has just been approved by the German parliament, provides for a photovoltaic expansion path of 215 gigawatts by 2030. As ENERPARC, we ourselves are pursuing the goal of expanding our portfolio in Europe to over 5 gigawatts by 2026. Transactions such as this are therefore particularly important in order to create the means to move a step closer to both our goal and that of the German government. This project also shows that the energy transition only works if all stakeholders work well together.”
Tim Koenemann, Head of Renewable Energies at Commerzbank: "A transaction of this magnitude con-cretely underlines our strategy for Commerzbank's renewable energy portfolio, which is geared to-wards strong growth. It is also an expression of our long-standing and trusting cooperation with ENER-PARC AG."
Thomas Schulz, Head of Infrastructure and Transport Finance at LBBW: "Sustainability has been one of our strategic thrusts for years. Financing projects in the field of renewable energies and the associated infrastructure is a key business area for LBBW. Here, we support our customers with our extensive ex-pertise and thus create scope for them to successfully realise sustainable projects for the implementa-tion of the energy turnaround".
Dr Jens Gölz, Partner at Simmons & Simmons: "We are very pleased to have advised the financing banks on one of the largest solar parks refinancings in Germany to date. The complex HoldCo financing struc-ture together with the comprehensive due diligence of 61 solar parks have made the project one of the most challenging and exciting transactions of the last years. "
Thomas Gummert, Partner at Eight Advisory: "It was an intensive structuring, negotiation and imple-mentation task, which we were able to bring to a successful conclusion for ENERPARC AG together with the legal advisors and the financing banks. The completion of this complex refinancing demonstrates the capabilities of our Eight Advisory Infrastructure and Project Finance team as well as the strong networking with our tax advisory team."
