Beijing, December 6, 2010
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has raised $150 million for China WindPower Group and its wind farm in the country’s northwestern province of Gansu to support climate-friendly wind-power development in China.
IFC has organized a debt facility of $140 million for the project, including a $45 million loan for its own account earlier this year and $95 million in syndicated loans from Intesa Sanpaolo ($35 million), Societe Generale ($35 million), and Rabobank ($25 million). This marks China’s first wind-power deal financed entirely through international bank syndication. IFC has also taken a $10 million equity stake in China WindPower to help the company expand its business, including outside China such as in Africa and India.
“IFC’s knowledge of international best practice and ability to offer customized financing will enable us to succeed and expand in this growing sector,” said Shunxing Liu, Chairman of China WindPower.
China WindPower will use IFC’s financing to build its first wholly owned 201-megawatt plant in Gansu, one of China’s poorest provinces. Located in the Gobi desert, a terrain favorable to wind projects, the plant is part of a plan to develop initially 3.8 gigawatts of electricity from wind power in the province and to reach ultimately up to 10 gigawatts—equivalent to roughly one third of the installed wind-power capacity in the United States in 2009.
“IFC’s investment in China WindPower will help avoid over 420,000 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions every year in one of China’s poorest Western regions,” said Hyun-Chan Cho, IFC’s Country Manager for China and Mongolia. “In China, we focus on addressing the climate-change challenge through renewable-energy development, cleantech investments, as well as innovative energy-efficiency financing such as China Utility-based Energy Efficiency Finance Program.”
Listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange three years ago, China WindPower is a fast-growing, entrepreneurial firm committed to developing top-quality clean energy in China, the world’s fastest growing wind market. It produces wind turbine towers and designs, builds, and maintains the wind farms for itself and other wind-power developers.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
