Intersect spin-off inks $4.95bn financing for California project
IPX Power, a newly formed developer that was carved out of Intersect Power, has closed a $4.95 billion debt financing for a California project.
The deal, for the Darden project, marks IPX Power’s debut financing as a standalone company, and is thought to be one of the largest ever solar-plus-storage financings in the U.S., according to industry sources.
Darden, located in Fresno county, consists of a 1,150 MW solar and 4.6 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
Deutsche Bank, Santander, MUFG Bank, Credit Agricole, and Societe Generale served as initial coordinating lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, PeakLoad has learned.
KeyBanc Capital Markets acted as joint lead arranger; and MUFG served as administrative agent.
Wilmington Trust was collateral agent, while CIBC was global hedge coordinator.
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas, CoBank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, HSBC Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, J.P. Morgan, National Bank of Canada, Nord L/B, PNC Capital Markets, Royal Bank of Canada, Standard Chartered Bank, Truist Securities, Wells Fargo Securities and Westpac Banking Corp. served as coordinating lead arrangers.
The transaction features a $1.825 billion construction-to-term loan, a $910.8 million tax-equity bridge loan, a $1.810 billion tax-credit transfer bridge loan (TRABL), and $403.2 million in letters of credit.
The construction-to-term loan is priced at SOFR plus 175 basis points, stepping up to 187.5 basis points over when commercial operations start, according to industry sources.
The deal is set to be syndicated to a wider pool of lenders, the sources noted.
Officials at IPX Power and the lenders declined comment or could not immediately be reached.
Darden is fully contracted with various utility offtakers, including a 10-year power purchase agreement with Peninsula Clean Energy, the community choice aggregator for San Mateo county.
It is scheduled to start delivering electricity in 2028, according to documentation.
IPX Power, backed by TPG Rise Climate, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, and Greenbelt Capital Partners, was spun out of Intersect Power following the latter’s acquisition by Google’s parent Alphabet.