Canadian Solar announced that on May 7th 2015 it closed a GBP35 million ($53 million) project financing facility with Investec Bank plc, for a portfolio of four solar power plants with an installed capacity totaling 40.2 megawatts.
Located at four different locations across England, the installations have been built under the Renewables Obligation regime and became operational in March 2015.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, said: "The UK market is an important component of our strategy to build and own solar power plants that we plan to drop into a YieldCo vehicle in the months ahead. Our goal is to continue investing in the UK and we look forward to continue working with Investec to support our growth."
Olivier Fricot, Head of Power and Infrastructure Lending, Investec, said: "Investec supported Canadian Solar in its first ROC based project financing. It further endorses the expertise of our team in the UK renewables sector. This transaction represents a significant deal with one of the leading global solar energy players, and we look forward to further developing this relationship in a number of geographies where our respective organizations operate."
Investec acted as sole mandated lead arranger on this transaction. Investec has a growing presence in the UK solar market, having funded in excess of 350MWp to date.