Bank Backing More Than 1/2 Of US Rooftop Solar Financing Isn't American - It's From South Africa
South African bank has become the go-to funding source for the U.S. rooftop solar industry just two years after entering the market.
Investec Plc arranged $880 million in debt financing for rooftop solar developers and financiers in 2016. That’s more than half of the $1.5 billion bank debt raised last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Financing for rooftop solar is underpinned by thousands of small contracts with consumers. While the debt is tied to strong individual credit scores, banks have favored big solar farms because they generally have contracts with investment-grade utilities. Investec has filled the gap by focusing on the rooftop industry’s unique financing needs, said Ralph Cho, the bank’s co-head of power & infrastructure in the Americas.
“We’re not a plain vanilla solar lender,” the New York-based Cho, 44, said in an interview. “We do more complicated deals that sometimes take commodity risk or construction risk.” The bank was founded in Johannesburg in 1974, and 15 years later was listed on the local stock exchange. It moved into the U.K. in 1992 and listed there a decade later. It focuses today on asset management and wealth management for high net-worth clients, with an emphasis on the U.K., South Africa and Australia.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-13/u-s-rooftop-solar-makes-south-africa-s-investec-the-go-to-bank