The consortium of Balfour Beatty, AMP and Equitix reached financial close for the Greater Gabbard offshore transmission project on November 26, 2013. The Greater Gabbard OFTO connects the Greater Gabbard wind farm to the onshore transmission grid. The wind farm is located off the Suffolk coast and contains 140 wind turbines to generate 504MW, which is enough energy to power over 500,000 homes.
This is the first OFTO project to be financed with a bond and the first UK project to use the EIB’s Project Bond Credit Enhancement (PBCE). The public bond issuance of £305m was given a provisional A3 rating by Moody’s with a stable outlook. HSBC was sole arranger for the deal and acted as bookrunner alongside Santander. The project’s consortium provided £46m of equity equally split between the three sponsors.
Operis conducted a full model audit, including a review of the model’s tax and accounting.
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Further information on Operis:
Operis is a leading advisor in project and infrastructure finance, renowned for its financial modelling and model auditing expertise and financial structuring advice. The firm has been mandated by the leading investment banks, infrastructure funds, bond arrangers and guarantor bodies around the world. This experience covers over 700 projects and other funded transactions worldwide.
Contact:
Paul Myers – Managing Director
+44 (0)20 7562 0400
