NatWest has completed a £1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) securitisation deal with Nuveen Infrastructure and Christofferson Robb & Company, aimed at recycling capital and boosting lending in the renewable energy and energy transition sectors. This synthetic risk transfer securitisation offers credit protection against a portfolio of approximately 40 renewable energy project finance loans, including investments in wind, solar, smart meters, energy from waste, and biomass.
The deal will relieve risk-weighted assets (RWA) for NatWest, allowing the bank to increase its lending to clients in the renewable energy sector.
NatWest, a leading lender in the UK power and renewables sector since 1991, has been the top lender by volume and transactions in the UK renewables sector from 2010 to 2024, according to InfraDeals.
This transaction is one of several synthetic SRT deals for NatWest, with this being the second focused on renewable technologies. It was executed by NatWest’s Project Finance and Portfolio Risk Mitigation teams and distributed by NatWest Markets.
Alberto Abascal, Managing Director – Project Finance, NatWest said, “Renewable lending is a core business for the Group. Given our market-leading position and stated climate purpose, this is an important transaction to help the business efficiently recycle our capital to allow us to continue to grow and support our clients with the significant volumes required in the sector.”
David Fitoussi, Managing Director – Head of European Origination, Christofferson Robb & Company said, “CRC has invested in European wind and solar since 2005. We respect NatWest as a renewable energy project finance lender and are delighted to bring this exposure to this portfolio to our investors, which they would otherwise find inaccessible.”
“We are pleased to have invested in our already 4th SRT transaction in the energy transition, adding a £1.1bn portfolio of loans to the existing assets in our enhanced credit strategies. The investment continues to support our ambitions to offer investors the chance to participate in the energy transition whilst aiming to deliver sustainable and enhanced returns,” said Claudio Vescovo, Head of Credit Funds – Energy Transition Europe, Nuveen Infrastructure.