Wind power in Mexico: new wind farm in Oaxaca

The financing, totaling MXN $8,885.6 million, is being provided by a syndicate of commercial banks, including Banorte, BBVA Bancomer, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, HSBC and Santander, and development banks, including the Inter-American Development Bank, Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos (“Banobras”), and Nacional Financiera (“Nafinsa”). Additionally, Eksport Kredit Fonden (“EKF”), the Danish export credit agency, will guarantee a portion of the construction term loan.

“We are pleased to have completed the financing for this Project and look forward to starting construction,” said Jonathan Davis Arzac, Executive Chairman of MMIF. “This Project, which marks the first renewable energy investment in MMIF’s portfolio, is expected to be the largest single-stage wind farm in Latin America when completed.”

The Project expects to begin construction in March 2012. The Project has contracted Vestas WTG Mexico, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark, to complete the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the Project, including the supply of 132 units of the Vestas v90-3.0 MW turbines and a 10-year service and maintenance agreement.

Concurrent with the closing of the financing, Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (“FEMSA”) and Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory arm of Macquarie Group, have sold their interests in the Project (comprising 67.5% in total) to Mitsubishi Corporation, a Tokyo-based conglomerate with significant expertise in power development and generation, and PGGM, a leading Dutch pension fund service provider with around EUR 115 billion pension assets under management of 2.5 million people for six pension funds. As a long-term investor, MMIF has maintained its 32.5% interest in the Project and has committed to contribute additional capital to the Project in proportion to its equity participation.

“MMIF is pleased to welcome our new consortium partners,” said Nick O’Neil, CEO of MMIF. “We look forward to working closely with our co-investors to move the Project through the next stage of its development.”

Subsidiaries of FEMSA and Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, an operating company of Heineken N.V., will purchase the generation of the Project under 20-year power purchase agreements.

The wind turbines project is located in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the south-eastern region of the State of Oaxaca, where the average regional wind speed exceeds 8.5 meters per second. The area is regarded as having the best wind-resource in Mexico and as one of the windiest regions in the world.

Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund (MMIF) is Macquarie Group’s first managed fund in Latin America, and is the first peso-denominated fund focused solely on investment opportunities in Mexican infrastructure projects. The Fund targets investments across infrastructure asset classes that include roads and rail, airports, ports, water and wastewater, energy and utilities, as well as social and communications infrastructure. Cornerstone investors in MMIF include Mexico’s National Infrastructure Fund (FONADIN), a number of Mexican pension funds and Macquarie Group.

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