ACCIONA refinances 1,421.2 million euros with a repayment period of 18 years

12 banks subscribe a syndicated Project Finance loan for renewables assets.

ACCIONA, through the subsidiaries of its Energy division, Corporación ACCIONA Eólica S.L. and ACCIONA Saltos de Agua, S.L., signed today a project finance syndicated loan for 1,421.2 million euros. The group of banks leading this operation is made up of BBVA, Banco Santander, La Caixa, Caja Madrid, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, Banesto, Banca IMI, Westdeustche Landesbank, Helaba, Banco Sabadell and Banco Popular.

One quarter ahead of schedule, ACCIONA has refinanced its most important maturity for 2011, with a repayment period of 18 years and using as sole means of repayment the cash flow generation from its Spanish wind assets and the special regime hydro assets acquired from Endesa in 2009.

In June 2009, ACCIONA Group acquired 2,084 MW of renewables assets, namely wind assets in Spain and Portugal and hydro in both the ordinary and special regimes. To finance the acquisition of these assets, ACCIONA Group signed a two-year, 1,575 million euro loan.

The operation carried out today is for the long-term financing of that bridge-financing operation. The remaining amount, up to the original amount of 1,575 million euros, has been amortised with the generation of cash flow of the acquired assets in the period 2009/2011. Both the 680 MW of hydro assets in ordinary regime in Spain and the 94 MW of wind assets in Portugal ara left out of this refinancing and are free from associated debt, so their cash flow can provide direct support for growth in other areas of the Energy division.

The operation involves a total installed capacity of 1,133 MW of wind power located in Spain in the autonomous regions of Andalusia, Galicia, Castile-León, Castile-La Mancha and Valencia; and 177 MW of special regime hydro in the autonomous regions of Aragon, Catalonia and Cantabria.

The interest rate of the operation is Euribor over six months plus a margin that starts at 2.75% for the first years, rising to a total 3.50% in the years approaching maturity.

The make-up of the bank syndicate that has participated in the operation-a balanced blend of top-level banks from Spain and overseas-is a reflection of the confidence that international markets place in ACCIONA's long-term financing strategy and the quality of the assets that they are supporting.

This operation follows the one carried out last March for 300 million euros for financing CSP business in Spain, with a bank syndicate made up of Japanese banks, and secured by Nexi.

With these operations, ACCIONA Group has met its main corporate financial needs for 2011.