CANADIAN SOLAR, INC.: Wins Two Deal of the Year Awards from Power Finance & Risk

Canadian Solar Inc. issued the following announcement on May 1.

Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced it won two accolades in the 2018  Power Finance & Risk Deal of the Year Awards.

Canadian Solar was named the Latin America Project Finance Borrower of the Year, and was further recognized as Latin America Project Finance Deal of the Year for the financing of its 100 MWp solar project in Cafayate, Argentina.

Power Finance & Risk recognizes excellence and innovation in power project finance and M&A. Canadian Solar was selected as the winner in two of the twenty-five categories through an industry-wide poll that surveyed investors, sponsors, bankers and advisers throughout the Americas. Winners in other categories include Capital Dynamics, Allianz Global Investors, BlackRock, Enel, MUFG and Goldman Sachs. This recognition follows the success of Recurrent Energy, Canadian Solar's U.S. project development arm, which was previously named 2015 Project Finance Borrower of the Year for North America.

The Cafayate solar project was awarded a 20-year U.S. dollar indexed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) of US$56.28/MWh during the second renewable public tender (RenovAR 1.5). The U.S. dollar indexed PPA is backed with a three-level guarantee mechanism, including a World Bank guarantee and Argentina's government guarantee through the Trust Fund for Renewable Energy (FODER). The US$50 million non-recourse financing package, arranged by CAF - Development Bank of Latin America, consists of a US$30 million CAF A-loan with a 15-year tenor, a US$15 million parallel loan from the Argentinian Development Bank of Investment and Foreign Trade (BICE) with a 15-year tenor, and a US$5 million parallel loan from the Bank of the City of Buenos Aires (Banco de la Ciudad) with a 10-year tenor. CAF and Canadian Solar have a financing target of US$75 million and are seeking an additional US$25 million in senior financing in which the new lender will benefit from CAF's preferred creditor status.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. commented, "We are honored to receive these awards and to be recognized by Power Finance & Risk. We have successfully raised approximately US$800 millionof debt capital in Latin America since we first started in 2015. We are committed to working with our business partners, investors, lenders and advisers to finance and build high-quality solar power generation assets across Latin America."

Original source can be found here.