On March 17, 2015, Boulder Creek Power Limited Partnership (BCPLP) and Upper Lillooet River Power Limited Partnership (ULRPLP), entities owned by Creek Power Inc. which in turn is owned 66.67 per cent by Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (Innergex) and 33.33 per cent by Ledcor Power Group Ltd., and a group of financial institutions comprising The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife), as agent and lead lender, and the Caisse de Dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life), as lenders, closed a $491.6-million non-recourse construction and term project financing for the Upper Lillooet River and Boulder Creek run-of-river hydroelectric projects.
The financing represents the largest project-level financing ever secured by Innergex. The two projects, with an aggregate installed capacity of approximately 107 MW, will be located on Crown land approximately 70 kms northwest of Pemberton, British Columbia, and are expected to reach commercial operation by the end of 2016. Electricity generated by the projects will be sold under two 40-year electricity purchase agreements with BC Hydro.
BCPLP, ULRPLP, Creek Power Inc. and Innergex were represented by an in-house team comprising Nathalie Théberge, Vice-President, Corporate Legal Affairs and Secretary, Yves Baribeault,Vice-President, Legal Affairs, Operations and Projects and Nicolas Leblanc, Janine Jones, and Shubha Krishnan, Legal Counsels, and by McCarthy Tétrault LLP, with a team comprising Richard O’Doherty, Morgan Troke, Sebastian Nishimoto and Gadi Taj Ndahumba (energy & financial services); Craig Shirreff and Michael Neinhuis (real property); and Selina Lee-Anderson (environmental & Aboriginal law).
The Lenders were represented by John Hancock/Manulife’s Managing Director, Senior Counsel and Practice Group Leader North American Investment Law, Jack Wallace, by Pastor CDPQ’s Director, Legal Affairs, Julie Tremblay, by Canada Life’s in-house counsel and by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP with a team comprising Nick Williams, Will Buchner and Ben Howard (banking and project finance); Sarah Powell (energy and environmental) and Dan Wolfensohn (corporate); and by Lawson Lundell LLP with a team comprising James Sutcliffe (banking and debt financing), Christine Kowbel (Aboriginal and environmental) and Ed Wilson (real estate).