PEP’s Zenith Energy locks in $320m debt amid APA-Alinta deal
Private-capital backed mine site power business Zenith Energy has lined up a $320 million debt deal from a mix of existing and new lenders, as APA Group’s $1.7 billion acquisition of Alinta’s West Australian remote power assets kicks up interest in the sector.
Zenith’s recent ccontract wins include a PPA with Northern Star’s Jundee mine (pictured). Reuters
Street Talk understands Zenith – incidentally it was among the early tyre kickers at Alinta Energy Pilbara – closed the debt deal this week after a string of recent contract wins. A handful of new investors have joined Westpac, NAB, SMBC, BNP, ANZ and Aware Super in the debt stack.
Azure Capital and KPMG worked on the deal, having helped Zenith with a $440 million debt financing last year. On the equity side, Zenith’s got Pacific Equity Partners’ Canada’s OPTrust and Foresight (née Infrastructure Capital Group) who plucked it off the ASX boards three years ago for a $259 million enterprise valuation.
What’s interesting is Zenith has quietly built 600 megawatts of contracted capacity including up-and-running assets and those under construction – that’s not way off Alinta’s 550 megawatts installed and 80 megawatts under construction. Although as bidders in the Alinta process know, that sell-side was more about the renewables-pipeline.
Nevertheless, the APA deal establishes that Zenith should be way bigger than the $259 million enterprise valuation it fetched in 2020.
It has aggregated $760 million total committed debt facilities within the last 12 months to deploy contract wins and pipeline. Its recent wins include a 95 megawatts power purchase agreement with Liontown Resources’ Kathleen Valley project, an 88 megawatts hybrid power station for Bellevue Gold and a 53
Read more on afr.com
