Synera Renewable Energy and JERA are aiming to refinance their 376 MW Formosa 2 offshore wind farm in Taiwan before the 17 February start of the Chinese New Year, according to three sources familiar.

Financial adviser Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) sounded out the market to refinance the debt last year but opted for a limited regearing instead.

The newest iteration of the Formosa 2 refinancing is also limited. The same banks and export credit agencies (ECAs) that participated in the original deal plan to lend around USD 1.8bn equivalent, for a slightly lower margin with some of the ECA insurance cover being replaced by commercial insurance, according to one of the sources.

In late 2019, Macquarie Asset Management announced it had completed the TWD 62.4bn (USD 1.9bn) financing of Formosa 2.

Macquarie subsequently sold its stake in the project to Stonepeak-owned co-investor, Synera Renewable Energy. Synera owns 51% of the project and Japan’s JERA owns the remaining 49%.

Debt adviser Société Générale put together a bank group comprised of: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, BNP Paribas, Cathay United Bank, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank, E-Sun, EnTie Commercial Bank, HSBC, ING Bank, KGI Bank, MUFG Bank, Natixis, Oversea Chinese Banking Corp, Société Générale, Siemens Financial Services, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank.

Taiwan Life was also planning to lend through an individual covered tranche, hundreds of millions of dollars in size.

Cathay has provided a performance security letter of credit, which underpins commitments made to the Taiwanese government on the operation schedule and decommissioning, and Commerzbank and Siemens are counter guaranteeing Cathay’s obligations, a source said.

The 18-year loan was priced at around 230 basis points over LIBOR during construction, falling to 200 basis points when the project is built. ECAs lending to the project include UK Export Finance, K-Sure, Belgian’s Credendo and Denmark’s EKF. Their loan margin is around half that price.

Clifford Chance was sponsors’ counsel and Linklaters lenders’ counsel.

SMBC, Siemens and Commerzbank declined to comment. Synera, JERA, Stonepeak, and Cathay did not respond to requests for comment.