TENAGA Nasional Bhd (TNB) via its wholly owned subsidiary, Vantage RE Ltd, successfully completed a £72 million (RM383.04 million) refinance package with two major lenders in the UK on Jan 16.

The financing facility with Mizuho Bank Ltd and National Westminster Bank Plc features a 15-year tenure and is related to TNB’s offshore wind investment in Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Ltd (BODL), it said in a statement today.

BODL is the entity that currently owns an operating 41.5 megawatts (MW) offshore wind farm located off the northeast coast of England, in partnership with EDF Renewables, the renewable energy (RE) arm of French state-owned utility company, Électricité de France. Vantage RE has a 49% stake in BODL, with the acquisition completed in October 2021.

“We are delighted to have completed this refinancing with two high-quality lenders in the UK. This refinancing allows us to unlock our renewables portfolio value through further optimisation of the existing capital structure and has demonstrated confidence in Vantage RE’s capabilities in the UK RE market,” TNB president and CEO Datuk Baharin Din (picture) said.

“The net proceeds will be recycled to fund TNB’s RE growth in Europe as we continue to focus on achieving our long-term growth objectives,” he added.

This marks Vantage RE’s second successful refinancing exercise in 2022, with the first being the £275 million refinancing of its 365MW solar portfolio in Vantage Solar UK Ltd completed in February 2022.

Vantage RE’s asset portfolio consists of solar, onshore and offshore wind assets totalling 530MW in generation capacity, with a further 102MW of solar under construction that is expected to achieve commissioning in the first quarter of 2024. — TMR / pic source: tnb.com.my