Fiduciam has completed a hat trick of renewable energy bridging loans. One of these includes a €3.3m loan granted to a Dutch sustainable energy entrepreneur last month. The company is increasingly catering to businesses in the renewable energy sector, in addition to its regular clientele from the real estate, hospitality, leisure, manufacturing, logistics, and agricultural sectors.
The Dutch entrepreneur leveraged Fiduciam’s loan to acquire a vacant greenhouse complex with a unique high-voltage energy grid connection. This connection is capable of swiftly supplying energy to and taking energy from the grid, key to grid stabilisation efforts led by the national energy management company TenneT.
The complex, which spans nearly 100,000 sqm, is equipped with 5,500 electricity-intensive lamps and three combined heat and power units (CHPs). These facilities allow the entrepreneur to stabilise the grid during periods of energy oversupply and provide energy during peak demand times. Furthermore, the entrepreneur plans to install solar panels across the greenhouse roofs and introduce energy storage systems for surplus sustainable energy, thus creating a complete power plant.
The complexity of the sustainable energy project required an innovative approach to underwriting and valuation, typically conducted on a loan-to-value basis. This involved careful modelling of projected cash flows, heavily reliant on the grid stabilisation agreement with TenneT and an offtake agreement for the renewable solar energy. Furthermore, the transaction’s technical and legal complexities presented challenges for most lenders.
Despite these hurdles, Fiduciam’s Dutch team navigated the intricate legal structure of security instruments, enabling the completion of the innovative renewable energy bridging loan before the stipulated purchase contract deadline.
The €3.3m loan has a 12-month maturity and a 9.5% annual interest rate, rolled up to alleviate the client’s burden of monthly interest payments during the project’s initial year.
Marieke Eskens (pictured), a director at Fiduciam, said: “I am very proud that our team has the flexibility and the in-house knowledge to support requests for renewable energy bridging loans. We developed a close relationship with our client and hope to finance more sustainable energy projects for them soon!”
