Nautilus Solar Closes $90 Mn Debt Financing Deal with Canadian Lenders

Nautilus Solar Energy, owner and operator of distributed and utility-scale solar energy projects, has sealed a USD 90 million debt financing deal with two Canadian lenders i.e. National Bank of Canada (NBC) and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

As per the agreement signed, the financing will be in two parts i.e. a USD 75 million for revolving construction facility and another USD 15 million for Letter of Credit facility.

Nautilus is an arm of investment holding company Power Energy Corporation, which is further a subsidiary of financial services giant Power Corporation of Canada.

With this capital proceeds, the New Jersey-based company aims to execute its plan of further expansion through acquiring, developing, constructing and managing solar assets. This investment will also help the company in further expanding it into key community solar markets throughout the United States.

Commenting on the financing received, Laura E. Stern, Co-CEO of Nautilus, said that “Nautilus is very pleased to have worked with NBC and RBC on this financing and look forward to growing our business relationship in the future.”

“Such financing partnerships are vital as we continue to achieve greater scale in the community solar sector of the industry,” Stern added.

Now, the construction facility will further fund approx 100 MW of community solar projects in Rhode Island, Maryland, New York and Minnesota, and the company is expecting that the construction loan will be taken out with a term debt facility provided by the same bank group.

“We are proud to have partnered with Nautilus. This transaction fits well within our strategy to expand our renewables banking and advisory practice outside Canada. We look forward to growing our relationship over the next several years,” commented Alexandre Huot, Managing Director of National Bank of Canada.

Meanwhile, the company, which was founded in 2006, is having a portfolio of solar projects located throughout North America. It has successfully developed, acquired, managed and invested more than USD 1.2 billion of capital into solar energy projects.