QIC and Cypress Creek Close on $450 Million Debt Facility
The facility will fund the growth of Cypress Creek's solar and storage pipeline
Durham, NC and New York – QIC and Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR) today announced the closing of a US$450 million debt facility to fund the growth of CCR’s robust solar and storage project pipeline. CCR’s projects will help meet the increasing demand for renewable resources in the United States. This is QIC’s first investment by its newly formed infrastructure debt platform.
Acting as a Joint Lead Arranger alongside leading lenders including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and CarVal, QIC has closed the facility that will provide the CCR affiliate with a US$450 million delayed draw sustainability-linked note (the Facility). The Facility is structured at a holding company level and will be used to refinance existing indebtedness and to fund development and construction of CCR’s growing development pipeline. The Facility also includes a US$250 million accordion option.
CCR is one of the largest solar owners and developers in the U.S., having developed more than 11GW of solar projects since inception. CCR owns and operates its own 1.7GW fleet of solar assets and has a 12GW active development pipeline. Its Operator & Maintenance Services division is the fourth largest in North America, serving 4GW of solar projects across the country.
“We are thrilled to tap into more efficient capital to fuel our ambitious growth plans to make the planet more sustainable,” said Sarah Slusser, CEO of Cypress Creek. “Building high quality solar and storage projects is our core business and having capital partners dedicated to our mission is particularly exciting. We look forward to accelerating our growth.”
“Solar will almost certainly represent one of the largest slices of the pie in terms of new capacity that comes online in the U.S. over the next several years,” said Lindsay Scully, QIC Principal – Infrastructure Debt, based in QIC’s New York office. “With its track record and pipeline, we believe Cypress Creek is a clear leader in the solar development space and also has one of the most attractive operating portfolios, so we see it as an ideal partner for our capital.
“We are especially pleased by the company’s willingness to work alongside us, the other Lead Arrangers, and Credit Agricole as sustainable structuring agent to implement the sustainability linkage in the Facility.”
QIC is a long-term specialist manager in alternatives offering infrastructure, real estate, private capital, private debt, liquid strategies and multi-asset investments. It is one of the largest institutional investment managers in Australia with A$101bn (US$73bn) in funds under management (as of Dec. 31, 2021). QIC Infrastructure Debt is one of several private debt strategies launched by QIC in early 2021 and is led by QIC Head of Private Debt Andrew Jones. QIC’s Infrastructure Debt flagship strategy focuses on providing complex debt capital solutions to infrastructure borrowers across the OECD. The six-person investment team, located in London and New York, is led by Evan Nahnsen, QIC Global Head – Infrastructure Debt. For more information, please visit: www.qic.com.
Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR) is a leading renewables IPP. CCR develops, finances, owns and operates utility-scale and distributed solar and energy storage projects across the United States. The mission is to power a sustainable future, one project at a time. Since inception, CCR has developed more than 11GW of solar projects. Today CCR owns 1.7GW of solar, and through its O&M Services business, operates 4GW of solar projects. For more information about Cypress Creek, please visit www.ccrenew.com.
