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SWS in €600m expansion plan E-mail
Written by Staff Reporter   
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Cork based company SWS has announced that it has signed a funding deal with Ulster Bank, which will allow it to commence a €600 million expansion plan.
Ulster Bank is providing a long term financing facility, worth €300 million, to the company which is the first step in allowing SWS to complete the planned expansion of its windfarm business.

Ulster Bank was the sole underwriter in the deal and the loan was syndicated to a number of other financial institutions through the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) loan markets syndications team in London.

It will allow for the refinancing of three of SWS’s operational wind farms and the greenfield financing of a further three wind farms which will have a total capacity of 163 megawatts. All six projects are based in Ireland.

This financing is part of the company’s overall strategy to become the largest developer of renewable energy projects by 2010. Having already developed five operational windfarm projects across the island, with a combined gross capacity of over 100 megawatts and with 420 megawatts at various stages of development , SWS is currently ranked as one of the two main players in the Irish renewable energy market.

Commenting on the funding deal, Chris McCarthy, CFO of SWS said, “This deal means we are in a very strong position to rollout our expansion plans. We have already made good progress over the past year in purchasing a number of early-stage windfarm projects, so the move will allow us to build on this and further expand our portfolio. With demand for electricity continuing to grow at an annual rate of 6%, there has never been a better time for us to develop our business.”

Eddie Cullen, Head of Corporate Banking, Ulster Bank added,  “Since the Irish electricity market was liberalised in 2005, renewable energy financing has become a very important part of our business. The drive to meet the renewable energy targets set down by the Irish Government has opened up a number of opportunities for business. Ulster Bank has put significant investment into this sector and we look forward to continue developing our position as the one of the market leading financers of renewable energy projects in Ireland. We are delighted to be backing such a progressive and innovative group as SWS and we look forward to seeing their plans come to fruition.”

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