Last year was up and down for Vivint Solar, to say the least, as a failed merger set the company way off course, but its fortunes seem to be turning around. News of a combined USD 303 million in fresh financing is music to Vivint’s ears, as it allows the company to get back on track.
The financing has come in two separate transactions. The first is a fixed-rate, 18-year debt facility totaling USD 203 million, from four separate investors. The loan will be repayed using the contractual cash flows from four existing investment funds, which include 214 MW of solar systems.
The second is a follow-on investment in tax equity financing totaling USD 100 million, and is from one of Vivint’s existing investors. Both of the transactions have been closed with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
“We are thrilled that Bank of America Merrill Lynch continues to support Vivint Solar and residential solar energy development,” said Dana Russell, CFO for Vivint Solar. “They have been a tremendous partner to us since our IPO in the fall of 2014.”
The extra funding is a good sign of investor confidence in the company, but will also allow it to repay outstanding borrowings under the company’s existing non-recourse credit facility. The second investment will be used for the installation of over 66 MW of residential arrays.
“This is a milestone transaction for Vivint Solar that demonstrates its access to an additional class of term debt lenders,” commented CCO and head of capital markets for Vivint Solar, Thomas Plagemann. “After closing the USD 313 million syndicated bank term loan facility in August 2016, this transaction completes the first full ‘turn’ of capital in our USD 375 million aggregation facility and validates the debt optimization strategy we outlined earlier last year.”
This healthy chunk of fresh investment comes just two months after the Vivint raised USD 200 million in tax equity funding, which is helping to stabilise the company after the planned merger with SunEdison fell through early last year, which rocked the company to its boots. With new investors and some inventive new solutions to offer its customers, such as the smart home tools energy management system, it looks at though the Vivint ship has been steadied and is ready to go full steam ahead into 2017.
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