Search results for

Reliant Resources, which announced earlier this month that it had taken a $80 million trading loss on a speculative position, agreed with banks to include a covenant clause in its planned $5.9 billion refinancing that will explicitly bar the company from taking proprietary trading positions. One banker close to the talks says the covenant only allows the Houston player to trade around its assets. The company is working toward a March 28 deadline to re-work the $5.9 billion in straight loan and lease facilities (PFR, 2/24).

High quality non-recourse paper is being increasingly offered for sale in the U.S. secondary market as lenders look to trim exposures or cast off entire portfolios. Lenders say the paper is high quality in the sense that it is for contracted plants with strong operational records. "I'm kicking myself. There are some great opportunities," says one project financier, who notes his bank is capping exposure so it can't pick up the paper.

Michael Bonte-Friedheim, who was an executive director in the power and utilities group at Morgan Stanley in London, has joined Goldman Sachs to focus on merger and acquisition opportunities in the mainland European power sector. Industry watchers say the move is an attempt by Goldman to build up its European power franchise, after a couple of disappointing years. "It has been punching below its weight in the European power sector," says one rival London, based banker.

The sextet of banks arranging acquisition and repowering financing for Tirreno Power--formerly Interpower--have so far signed up six banks during syndication and are looking to double the number over the next few weeks.

Marubeni Europower and Japanese green energy outfit J-POWER earlier this month sealed a EUR70 million non-recourse acquisition loan that funded the purchase of a 64 MW wind farm portfolio in Galicia, Spain. The 13.5-year loan was arranged by Dexia Credit Local, ING and Banco Urquijo, says Chris Cantelmi, v.p. and head of project finance at Marubeni in London.

Tejo Energia, the holding company for Portugal's largest independent power plant, is looking to more than double capacity through the addition of an 800 MW combined-cycle gas-turbine plant adjacent to its existing 600 MW Pego Power coal-fired plant. Bankers in London say the majority owners in the Tejo joint venture, International Power (45%) and Endesa (35%), have already begun talking to lenders about funding the expansion in the non-recourse bank market, but have not selected a financial advisor to organize a tender process. "International Power typically does not pick banks until late in the day," notes one City financier.

Spanish utility Endesa is seeking a partner to help finance a possible quadrupling of its domestic wind farm portfolio and recently hired local bank Caja Madrid to advise on the move.

Administrative receiver Ernst & Young is close to selling TXU Europe's Nordic energy business and has received over a dozen expressions of interest in the assets, according to City bankers. They add E&Y has set a late March deadline for final bids. Bankers say the bulk of the interest is coming from small- to middle-tier German and Scandinavian utilities.

The Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) has put on hold plans to expand the 1,350 MW Taweelah A-1 power plant by 500 MW, says an official close the to company. The state-owned utility had hired BNP Paribas to advise on the expansion--dubbed A-10--last year and was considering launching a tender to develop the project in the first quarter (PFR, 12/9). One banker suggests that muted interest in developing Um Al Nar--only two consortia submitted final bids--may have prompted ADWEA to rein in its ambitious IPP development program.

Despite inking a EUR475 million ($490 million) project loan last December to fund the construction of a Turkish power plant, Tractebel has yet to get its hands on the cash. Bankers familiar with the transaction say export credit agency (ECA) due diligence is holding up the transaction. "Until they sign off, no cash can be transferred," notes one lender, adding there is no timetable for eventual closure. The roster of ECA's included Washington, D.C.,-basedExport-Import Bank.