CBD Energy (ASX:CBD) ("CBD" or "the Company"), a diversified renewable energy company focused on solar power installations, wind farm developments, energy efficiency design and solar module assembly in Australasia and Europe today announced that it has closed on a revolving US$25 million line of construction financing from a US financial institution. This facility enables CBD to rapidly ramp up work on its large pipeline of European solar projects while giving the company greater scope to utilise the higher-margin Build-Operate-Transfer ("BOT") model as compared with traditional contracting on an engineering, procurement and construction basis.
CBD anticipates utilising the new facility to commence construction on 3 MW of ready-to-go rooftop projects in Italy during the current quarter and is bolstering its supply chain to support ongoing development activity in Europe of up to 5MW per month. When fully utilised, the financing facility is sufficient to support more than A$35 million revenue per quarter. Consequently, CBD is now able to prioritise projects in its current pipeline, focusing on those with potential net contribution margins above 10%.
"This is an important milestone for CBD," explained Gerry McGowan, Managing Director of CBD. "International expansion to position CBD as a global solar developer is a key component of our long term growth strategy and builds on the experience gained in the delivery of our 8MW Thai project delivered late last year. With this financing in place, we can quickly reach critical efficient scale in Europe, where demand for solar projects is robust and off-take economics are codified and tested. This funding facility gives CBD the ability to efficiently build on its existing base in a market that is expected to continue to represent more than half of global installations this year and next"
Chardan Capital Markets, LLC ("Chardan") acted as sole placement agent for the credit facility.
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