KBC Bank's efforts to syndicate a re-launched $120 million portion of the $226 million Perryville non-recourse loan have been halted in their tracks because of lukewarm interest from prospective lenders. Financiers who looked at the reworked deal, and passed on it, say credit questions about Atlanta-based Mirant, which remains the off-taker for the plant, despite having sold its equity stake in the project to co-sponsor Cleco, were the key factors in the subdued interest. "Nobody wants to do Mirant [paper] and there is a taint to the deal," he says, referring to the drawn out syndication and the fact the deal had to be reworked (PFR, 4/8). An official at KBC declined comment.
July 07, 2002