Oct 2016 Financial News

Power plant to launch bond

Oct 21, 2016

Officials of the Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) power plant are currently in the United States meeting with prospective investors ahead of a planned bond debut.

According to a report published online by GlobalCapital, TGU has appointed Credit Suisse and Scotiabank as joint bookrunning managers and RBC Capital Markets as bookrunner for the deal. Ratings agency Fitch said the company has been assigned a BBB/BBB- rating which reflects its state ownership and “strategic importance” to this country’s energy matrix.

The agency explained: “Additionally, the rating is supported by highly stable cash flows generated PPA (power purchase agreement) with a tolling structure that eliminates commodity risk exposure.”

Fitch further stated: “Additionally, TGU’s sole offtaker and fuel supplier, Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC), is owned by the Government. The company’s water supply is also guaranteed by another government controlled entity, the Water and Sewage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.”

It said all these factor are evidence of the “strategic importance of the asset and alignment to the sovereign’s overall objective to maintain low energy prices at a competition edge for private investment.”

TGU officials are due to hold meetings in Los Angeles today, in London on Monday and New York on Wednesday.

The US$740 million TGU power generation facility at Union Industrial Estate, La Brea, was officially launched on October 30, 2013. 

Source:
Trinidad Guardian
Friday October 21, 2016

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2016-10-20/power-plant-launch-bond