Etrion completes project financing drawdown and repays EUR 28 million bridge loan

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: Etrion Corp., an independent solar power producer, has completed a drawdown of the previously announced project finance facility with Natixis, WestLB and Mediocreval. After the drawdown, Etrion repaid in full the previously announced bridge loan of 28 million euros from Lorito Holidings Sarl and Zebra Holdings & Investments Sarl, investment companies wholly-owned by Lundin family trusts.

The non-recourse project finance facility is for approximately 60 million euros and includes a total of 17.8 megawatts (MW) of operational solar parks in Italy. The facility covers approximately 84 percent of project costs and matures 18 years from the beginning of operations.

Marco Northland, CEO, commented: "We continue to optimize our capital structure by refinancing the short-term Lundin bridge loan with an 18-year, non-recourse project facility. The project financing drawdown demonstrates that the market for bank lending to the solar sector remains open for companies with attractive projects."

At the end of August 2011, Etrion announced the completion of 12.6 MW in Italy across three solar photovoltaic (PV) parks: Brindisi, Mesagne and Nettuno. Etrion recently completed a drawdown of the project finance facility related to these parks.

The first project in the financing portfolio, Etrion Lazio, includes the Borgo Piave 3.5 MW park and the Rio Martino 1.7 MW park, both completed in December 2010.
The second project in the financing portfolio, Helios ITA-3, includes two 5 MW parks located in Brindisi and Mesagne in the Puglia region. The parks were completed in August 2011.

The final project in the financing portfolio, Nettuno, is a 2.6 MW park in the Lazio region and was also completed in August 2011.

The five ground-based solar PV plants included in the financing are expected to produce a total of approximately 28 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year and more than 9 million euros per year of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

The solar parks benefit from the Italian feed-in-tariff (FiT) regime, which is a premium purchase price for solar electricity that is guaranteed by the Italian government for 20 years from the start of operations.