Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On November 13, 2014, a syndicate of six lenders — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $571 million USD senior secured syndicated debt financing package with Green Energy Partners / Stonewall, LLC — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly-owned by the Dallas-based private equity firm, Panda Power Funds, LLC — for the 778 MW Stonewall Power Project. The facility included comprised a $300 million term loan B-1, a $200 million delayed draw term loan B-2, and $71 million in letters of credit. The term loan was priced at 550 basis points (bps) over Libor and carried a maturity period of seven years. The facility was three times oversubscribed during syndication. Record ID#110352 captures ICBC's $83.33 million USD contribution to the term loan. In addition to ICBC, Ares Capital, Investec, and MUFG Bank also each contributed $83.33 million USD to the term loan, and Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse btoh contributed $83.34 million USD. The proceeds of the loan were used to construct the 778 MW combined-cycle Stonewall Power Project on a 101-acre site located in Loudoun County, Virginia, approximately 4 miles southeast of Leesburg, Virginia. The project was known as the Stonewall Energy Center and was later renamed the Potomac Energy Center. Initial plans indicated that the facility would reach commercial operations in the spring of 2017. Construction began in November 2014 and the plant was commissioned in May 2017. Bechtel obtained the the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the site for the balance of the plant, and Siemens Energy Inc. provided a suite of generation technology, including, the natural gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, heat recovery steam generators, and instrumentation and controls systems. Panda refinanced the site in late 2021 as they were in the process of selling it to Ares Management Corporation, an arranger on both the 2014 construction finance facility as well as the 2021 refinancing facility. In 2025, Blackstone sought to purchase the site from Ares Management, now called the 778 MW Potomac Energy Center, amid growing demands for power in the region due to massive data center construction.
Staff comments
1. This project is also known as the Panda Stonewall Energy Center Project and, later, the Potomac Energy Center. 2. AidData does not consider letters of credit to be flows.