$300 Million
Loan for Arizona
GILA
BEND, AZ., August 10, 2011 – Helping to meet long-term demand for electricity, five
banks are providing $300 million in senior secured credit facilities for
two operating power blocks at Entegra Power Group’s
natural gas-fired Gila River Power Station in Arizona. WestLB
AG’s New York branch, GE (NYSE: GE) and Union Bank acted as bookrunners,
and together with
The credit facilities -- a six-year term loan and six-year
revolver to be used for working capital and letters of credit – are for
merchant power block 3 and contracted power block 4 of the Gila River Power
Station, located in Gila Bend, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix. Each of the
536-megawatt power blocks, operating since 2003, uses two GE 7FA combined-cycle
gas and GE steam turbines.
Mike Schuyler, Entegra’s president and
chief executive officer, said: “This financing is an important component of Entegra’s value optimization program and demonstrates the
market’s confidence in the company and its assets.”
Commented Martin
Livingston, managing director in WestLB’s Global
Energy group in
“Our
ability to lead-arrange and lend significant sums for merchant power plants,
like one of the power blocks at Gila River, reflects our confidence in
recovering electricity markets and ability to assess the underlying value of
assets,” said Matt O’Connor, a managing director and leader of the Financial
Institutions Group at GE Energy Financial Services, whose affiliate GE Capital
Markets, Inc., acted as joint lead arranger.
.
Union
Bank, part of MUFG Power & Utilities, is serving as the administrative
agent for the deal. Pascal Uttinger, a vice president
in that group, said: “We are pleased to see this important transaction, which
has both contracted and merchant revenue components, not only be well received
but over-subscribed in the project finance bank market.”
Additional
financial details of the transaction were not provided.
About
Entegra Power Group
Entegra Power Group owns, operates and markets electric power from highly efficient
natural gas-fueled power plants to wholesale customers in the southeastern and
southwestern
About WestLB Structured Finance
WestLB develops sophisticated structured solutions through a team of
highly experienced investment banking professionals. WestLB has a
long-standing presence in the corporate, structured and project financing
sectors supporting clients' needs with capital commitments, advisory services
and innovative financing solutions. The bank’s global relationships, coupled
with its unique understanding of local economies, industries and cultures, help
WestLB bankers consistently deliver high quality
advice and service. For more
information, please visit www.westlb.com.
About WestLB
WestLB AG is one of Germany´s leading financial services providers and
offers the full range of products and services of a universal bank, focusing on
lending, corporates and structured finance, capital market and private equity
products and transaction services. WestLB has total assets of €191.5 billion, as of
About GE Energy Financial
Services
GE
Energy Financial Services’ experts invest globally with a long-term view,
backed by the best of GE’s technical know-how, financial strength and rigorous
risk management, across the capital spectrum, in one of the world’s most capital-intensive
industries, energy. GE
Energy
Financial Services helps its customers and GE grow through new investments,
strong partnerships and optimization of its approximately
$20 billion in assets. GE Energy Financial Services is based in
About
GE
GE
(NYSE: GE) is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on
the world’s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health,
transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and
employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the
company's Web site at www.ge.com.
About
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
Mitsubishi
UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is one of the world’s largest and most diversified
financial groups in the world. The group
comprises five primary operating companies: The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ,
Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities
Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and
Financial Company Limited. MUFG’s services include commercial banking, trust
banking securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, leasing
and many more fields of financial services. The group has the largest overseas
network of any Japanese bank, comprising offices and subsidiaries in more than
40 countries, including San Francisco-based Union Bank, N.A. MUFG is one of the
world’s largest lenders to the project finance industry and includes 30-plus
years arranging both corporate and project finance transactions with expertise
in construction, regulatory, and market issues.
Derivatives - where it is one of the
leading global players in rates, credit, forex,
commodity and equity derivatives
Capital markets - where it is one of the top
European houses in both ECM and DCM (bond, securitization, convertibles and
equity issuance)
Structured finance - where it is amongst the
leaders in acquisition, export, project, energy and commodity finance globally
About
*Rated AA by
Standard & Poor's i.e. 3rd rating level on a scale of 22.
About
CIT
Founded in 1908,
CIT (NYSE: CIT) is a bank holding company with more than $35 billion in finance
and leasing assets. It provides financing and leasing capital to its more than
one million small business and middle market clients and their customers across
more than 30 industries. CIT maintains leadership positions in small business
and middle market lending, factoring, retail finance, aerospace, equipment and
rail leasing, and global vendor finance. www.cit.com
Contacts:
Michael
Schuyler, Entegra Power Group LLC
813-301-4900
Connie J. Kain,
WestLB
212-597-1439 / connie_kain@westlb.com
Andy Katell, GE Energy Financial
Services
203-961-5773
Pascal Uttinger, MUFG Power &
Utilities
213-236-5549
Cesaltine Gregorio, BNP
Paribas, Cesaltine.Gregorio@bnpparibas.com, 212.841.3719
Megan Stinson, BNP
Paribas, Megan.Stinson@bnpparibas.com, 212.841.3809
Mike Lorusso, CIT
212-771-6002