March 2020 - Astris Finance is pleased to announce the successful closing of three financings in the transmission sector in Brazil totaling more than USD 1.2 bn, including the largest BNDES loan in the energy sector in Brazil in 2019.

All three projects are owned by Cymi (ACS group from Spain) and Quantum (a Brookfield Brazilian subsidiary). The largest project, Mantiqueira (1261 km), achieved its first disbursement of the USD 680m senior debt in December 2019 while Chimarrão (934 km) and Sertaneja (485 km) reached financial close in January and February 2020 respectively. Astris acted as exclusive financial advisor to the Sponsors from bid stage to first disbursement. The total debt raise across the three projects was in excess of USD 1.2 bn.

The projects consist of the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a combined total 2,680km in transmission lines under 30-year concession contracts. The projects are located in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Piauí and Bahia and will play an important role in increasing interconnection within the Brazilian grid, as well as allowing new renewable sources to transmit energy to the load centers. The total investment amount of Mantiqueira, Chimarrão and Sertaneja combined is more than USD 1.6 billion.

Astris worked with the Sponsors’ team to design and implement a comprehensive financing strategy, looking at every potentially available source of long-term liquidity. Ultimately, BNDES was selected as the optimal financing strategy with a door-to-door maturity of 24 years.

The projects were awarded in auctions conducted in 2015 and 2016 and All relevant environmental licenses were obtained in 2019 after which the senior debt package for each project was rapidly executed by year end 2019.