Aquila European Renewables Income Fund secures EUR40mn revolving credit facility

Aquila European Renewables Income Fund plc (AERIF), the London-listed investment company advised by Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft mbh, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tesseract Holdings Limited, has reached contractual close in relation to a two year, EUR40 million (US$48 million) secured revolving credit facility (RCF). Lenders under the RCF include ING Bank N.V. and The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited.

As outlined in the Fund's Initial Public Offering (IPO) prospectus, the Company may make use of short-term debt, such as a revolving credit facility, to assist with the acquisition of suitable opportunities as and when they become available. Under the prospectus, such short-term debt will be subject to a separate gearing limit so as not to exceed 25 percent of the Gross Asset Value at the time of entering into (or acquiring) any such short-term debt.

The RCF has a margin of 1.85% over EURIBOR. The facility also benefits from additional flexibility, subject to bank consent and certain conditions, including

• an accordion option that enables the Fund to upsize the facility limit up to EUR 100 million (US$120 million); and
• an extension option, which allows the RCF tenor to be extended by a further two years.