Blue Elephant acquires stake in Montecristi solar project
Blue Elephant Energy has secured a 65% majority stake in the 116MW Montecristi solar park in the Dominican Republic, with F&S solar retaining the remaining 35% equity stake in the project. The buy-in will be financed via an acquisition loan.
The project, financed on a debt-to-equity ratio of around 80/20, secured financing from development banks DEG (Lead arranger), FMO and BIO, with the DFIs putting up a $62 million loan last summer. FMO and BIO provided equal tickets. The scheme is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with state-owned Corporacion Dominicana de Empresas Electricas Estata. Blue Elephant was advised by Watson Farley & Williams.
Montecristi is the largest of its kind in the region and part of a wider national push for the Dominican Republic to diversify its energy sources and break its reliance on diesel fuel. “Being the first deal of its kind in the region, pricing on debt was expensive,” a source close to the deal claims.
