Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada II L.P. has completed the acquisition of a 100% equity interest in four solar photovoltaic projects from Ontario Solar PV Fields Inc. Once constructed, the projects will sell power to the Ontario Power Authority pursuant to 20-year power purchase agreements under the terms of the Ontario government's feed-in tariff program.
The PV projects, initially developed by Ontario Solar PV Fields Inc., are expected to have 42 MW of aggregate generation capacity located in Ontario in the townships of Ramore, Hearst, Kapuskasing and Wainwright.
As a part of the acquisition, Fiera Axium says it closed $175 million of senior debt financing that will partially fund construction of the projects. The senior debt financing was provided by a syndicate of three international project finance banks: Natixis, Nord/LB and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Brookfield Financial acted as exclusive financial advisor to the transaction.
Fiera Axium says Hanwha Q CELLS Canada will build the projects. Construction is set to begin this summer and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2014. Once completed, the solar facilities are expected to supply up to 50 GWh of electricity per year.
‘This transaction represents Fiera Axium's first investment in greenfield solar power facilities and is a significant milestone for our recently raised second infrastructure fund,’ says Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada Manager Juan Caceres. ‘Consistent with our investment strategy, we are delighted to complement our fund portfolio with late-stage greenfield development projects.’
