Soltec, a single-axis solar tracker firm, has signed a €100 million (₹8.48 billion) syndicate credit facility with 11 banks. In a media statement issued on its website, Soltec informed that the financial operation was led by Banco Santander and will help Soltec expand its international business in five continents by opening subsidiaries.

The main objective of this credit facility is to cover Soltec’s commercial expansion process. It should be noted that commercial expansion has been the company’s focus since the beginning of its international journey in 2014 that began with the signing of its first supply contract for a large-scale solar plant.

Raul Morales, chief executive officer of Soltec said in the statement, “This credit will allow us to continue supplying solar trackers to our increasing number of PV projects in countries like Brazil, Egypt, or Spain.”

Other financial institutions involved included Bankia, Bankinter, BBVA, Caixabank, Cajamar CajaRural, Ibercaja, Liberbank, Sadabell, Banco Cooperativo Espanol and Banco Pichincha Espana. Furthermore, Soltec counted on the legal collaboration of Garrigues during the entire process.

A syndicated credit is a large loan arranged, structured, and administered jointly by two or more financial institutions in order to handle the high volume of funds.

According to Mercom’s Q2 2018 Solar Funding and M&A report, total corporate funding (including venture capital funding, public market, and debt financing) in the first half (1H) of 2018 was up with $5.3 billion raised compared to the $4.6 billion raised in 1H 2017, a 15 percent increase year-over-year (YoY).

Moreover, corporate funding increased in Q2 2018 with $2.8 billion in 34 deals compared to the $2.5 billion in 44 deals in Q1 2018. Year-over-year funding in Q2 2018 was about 102 percent higher compared to the $1.4 billion in Q2 2017.

Garima is a staff reporter with MercomIndia.com covering renewable energy news. Prior to Mercom, Garima worked as a journalist with The Times of India and The New Indian Express. She received her Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Nottingham and PG Diploma degree in journalism from the Times School of Journalism.