Macquarie brings PGGM onboard as it closes on wind farm

Macquarie’s Mexican infrastructure fund has secured $700m in debt for what will be its first renewable investment and Latin America’s largest single-stage wind farm. PGGM and Mitsubishi have also bought stakes in the project.

The Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund (MMIF) has reached financial close on Latin America’s biggest single-stage wind farm as Dutch pension provider PGGM and Japanese investor Mitsubishi Corporation join the deal on the equity side. 

A syndicate of commercial and development banks – including Banorte, BBVA Bancomer, Credit Agricole, HSBC, Santander, Inter-American Development Bank, Banobras and Nacional Financiera – are backing the $1 billion, 396-megawatt wind farm, located in Oxaca, Mexico, with $700 million of debt. Danish export credit agency Eksport Kredit Fonden will guarantee part of the construction loan.

Concomitantly with the financial close, Macquarie Capital and Fomento Economico Mexicano, which held a combined 67.5 percent of the wind farm, have exited the project, selling their stakes to Dutch pension provider PGGM (34.5 percent) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation (34 percent) for an undisclosed amount. 

MMIF owns a 32.5 percent stake in the project – known as Marena Renovables and its first-ever renewable energy investment – which it acquired in 2011. The wind farm is scheduled to become operational in July 2013.

MMIF – Macquarie’s debut Mexican infrastructure fund – is a combined listed and unlisted trust. The fund held a first close in 2010 and is targeting just upwards of $1 billion.