Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On October 2, 2015, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of seven lenders — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $401.7 million USD syndicated loan facility to NTE Ohio, LLC — a Delaware-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the Florida-based NTE Energy, LLC for the financing, development, and operations of the Middletown Energy Center — for the 475 MW Middletown Energy Center Construction Project. The full facility included $243 million USD in equity from Wattage Finance Capital Dynamics in addition to the $401.7 million USD senior secured syndicated debt package, which was comprised of the following tranches: the $269.7 million USD construction loan, which ICBC contributed to, a $42 million USD Letter of Credit, a $10 million USD revolver tranche, and an $80 million USD Letter of Credit. The facility carried a maturity period of construction (approximately 2.5833 years) plus five years and a variable interest rate which started at 325 basis points (bps) over LIBOR and stepped up to 375 bps after the completion of construction. Record ID#110271 captures ICBC's $59 million USD contribution to the $269.7 million USD construction loan portion of the debt. In addition to ICBC, the following lenders contributed the following amounts to the tranche and played these applicable roles on the facility: BNP Paribas ($27.35 million USD, syndication agent/ co-bookrunner); Crédit Agricole Group ($27.35 million USD, administrative agent/ co-bookrunner); General Electric ($50 million USD); ING Group ($35.5 million USD); Siemens ($35 million USD); and SunTrust Bank ($35.5 million USD). In addition to the construction loan tranche, the following tranches and lenders comprised the remainder of the debt financing: ING Group and SunTrust provided the $42 million USD Letter of Credit; BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, ING Group, and SunTrust contributed to the $10 million USD revolver tranche; and BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole provided the $80 million USD Letter of Credit. The proceeds of the loan would be used to construct the 475 MW natural gas-fired Middletown Energy Center Construction Project located in Butler County in Middletown, Ohio, United States. The combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant sells power to the PJM wholesale market. The site was developed and owned by NTE Energy. Gemma Power Systems provided engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for the construction project. The site includes Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas (MHPSA) M501GAC combustion turbine generator, a Toshiba America Energy Systems steam turbine generator, and a Vogt Power International supplementary-fired heat recovery steam generator. Initial plans submitted to the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) proposed the beginning of construction in the second quarter of 2015 and a commercial operation date in the second quarter of 2018. On November 24, 2014, OPSB greenlit the construction of the facility. Construction on the facility began in October 2015, the construction was completed in May 2018. As of July 2025, ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC announced that it was in substantive talks to acquire 100% of the power plant.
Staff comments
1. The following entities played these roles in the financing deal: Latham & Watkins acted as legal adviser to lender(s); Nixon Peabody provided counsel to the sponsor(s); Pierce Atwood provided legal advice to sponsor(s); and Whitehall & Company acted as the financial adviser. 2. AidData has estimated the maturity period of the loan by adding the known period of construction and the five addition years stipulated in the financing agreement.