ICBC contributes $49.8 million USD to $655.4 million USD term loan tranche of a $753 million syndicated debt financing package for the 785 MW CPV Towantic Energy Combined-Cycle Gas-Fired Plant Construction Project

Project narrative

On March 11, 2016, a syndicate of 16 lenders — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $753 million syndicated debt financing package with CPV Towantic, LLC — Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) (51%) and GE Energy Financial Services (GE EFS) (49%) — for the 785 MW CPV Towantic Energy Combined-Cycle Gas-Fired Plant Construction Project. The facility included a $655.4 million USD term loan tranche, a $21 million USD revolver tranche, and a $77.4 million USD letter of credit. Each tranche carried a nine year and three month maturity period and a final maturity date of June 30, 2025.The term loan was priced at LIBOR plus 325 basis point (bps), with step-ups at the start of commercial operations and three years later. Record ID#108398 captures ICBC's $49.8 million USD contribution to $655.4 million USD term loan tranche. The following lenders also contributed the following amounts to the tranche: Associated Bank ($25 million USD), CIT Group ($41.4 million USD), CoBank ($30 million USD), Crédit Agricole Group ($41.4 million USD), DNB ASA ($44.2 million USD), Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) ($49.8 million USD), ING Group N.V. ($42 million USD), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group ($44 million), National Australia Bank ($44.2 million USD), Natixis ($42 million USD), Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) ($42 million USD), Siemens Financial Services ($44.2 million USD), Société Générale (SocGen) ($35.9 million USD), SunTrust Bank ($42 million USD), and Wells Fargo ($39.7 million USD). The proceeds would be used by the borrower to construct the 785 MW CPV Towantic Energy Combined-Cycle Gas-Fired Plant, located on a on a 26-acre site in the Woodruff Hill Industrial Park, in Oxford, Connecticut. The plant was first approved in 1999 by the Connecticut Siting Council as a 512 MW power plant. However, the original developer, Arena Capitol subsidiary Towantic Energy, could not follow through with the project due to financial constraints. The 2×1 combined cycle plant is equipped with two General Electric (GE) 7HA.01 combustion turbines, one GE D602 steam turbine, and two heat recovery steam generators. The John Cockerill Group supplied the steam boilers for the project. Although the plant was designed to use natural gas, it can also operate on ultra-low sulfur distillate fuel oil. The sit provides power to approximately 800,000 Connecticut households. During its construction, POWER Engineers served as the design engineer on the project and Gemma Power Systems, LLC served as the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor. Construction was slated to begin in Q4 2015, and POWER announced that engineering began in December 2015. The facility reached commercial operations on May 21, 2018. In December 2018, CPV sold a partial stake of the Towantic Energy Center to Osaka Gas USA. The loan was seemingly amended in 2019, though no new financing seems to have been provided. In January 2021, OPC Energy (OPC), an Israeli company in conjunction with three Israeli institutional investors, officially acquired 100% of CPV from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). As of December 31, 2021, CPV Towantic, LLC had outstanding debt of approximately $598 million USD. The facility was refinanced in 2024, though the refinanced facility reportedly did not include any Chinese banks.