Astris Finance advised Langa, a French solar developer, in connection with the refinancing (the “Refinancing”) of its portfolio of operating PV assets in mainland France and Corsica (the “Portfolio”). The Portfolio has a total installed capacity of 49 MWp, spread over 97 building-integrated plants (40 MWp) and 2 ground-mounted power plant ( 9 MWp), held by 21 SPVs.

Langa is an independent French solar IPP that develops, builds, owns and operates renewable energy facilities mainly in France. Langa owns ca. 82 MWp of renewable energy projects in operation in France, of which 70 MWp are PV plants, and is currently developing a 452 MWp pipeline of solar PV and wind projects. Langa is part of the Neworld Energies group, which also owns various subsidiaries dedicated to energy efficiency and operation of energy production facilities.

The power plants composing the Portfolio have been completed between 2011 and 2014, and were initially financed on a project by project basis through non-recourse project finance facilities. Langa took advantage of the attractive market conditions and of the Portfolio’s outstanding operational track record to refinance its existing debt. The refinancing allowed Langa to extend the maturity of its financing to 16 years, lower debt service coverage ratios and significantly reduce the cost of financing.

The EUR 150 million facility is led by Unifergie and La Banque Postale acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers, with the participation of BPI, Triodos and Arkea. The debt is located at the level of a holding company that owns all project SPVs within the Portfolio. The proceeds of the Refinancing will be used by Langa to cover corporate expenses and to fund its ambitious growth strategy.

Astris Finance acted as exclusive financial advisor to Langa for the raising of the 150 mEUR facility, which marks a true first in terms of numbers of assets for a solar portfolio refinancing. In particular, Astris designed a tailor made due diligence process in order to provide the lenders with satisfactory legal and technical review across the 99 assets.