Bank of China contributes to a $200 million AUD syndicated debt package for Infrastructure Capital Group's acquisition of Enwave Australia

Project narrative

In September 2019, a syndicate of banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — provided a $200 million AUD syndicated debt package to support Australian infrastructure fund investment manager Infrastructure Capital Group's (ICG's) purchase of gas network firm Enwave Australia. The debt package was composed of a $160 million AUD-odd term loan and separate working capital and capital expenditure facilities. In addition to BOC, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) participated in the syndicate. CBA and BOC were the largest lenders in the syndicate. On September 27, 2019, ICG signed an agreement to purchase Enwave Australia from its owner Brookfield for a consideration of $420 million AUD after an bidding auction and negotiations. ICG was to make the investment via its Energy Infrastructure Trust (EIT), an investment portfolio owned on behalf of investors. Enwave Australia owns, among other assets, Tasmanian gas distribution firm TasGas, which supplies gas to industrial and retail consumers in Tasmania. Financial closure on the acquisition was reached on or around December 6, 2019. At the time of the acquisition, Enwave Australia owned Tas Gas Networks (Tas Gas), a 837 kilometer network of gas pipelines across Tasmania that supplied gas to over 14,000 industrial, commercial, and residential customers and a district energy energy and utility networks business that develops, constructs, owns, and operates multi-utility precincts across Australia, including precincts in Central Park, New South Wales, Mascot, New South Wales, and Tonsley, South Australia. In September 2020, ICG sold Enwave Australia to CleanPeak Energy, a solar energy company backed by First Sentier Investors.