Issuance Reflects Surging Demand for Emerging Asset Class Created by Renew Financial CEO Cisco DeVries
WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 3, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Renew Financial, a leading clean energy finance company, today announced it has completed its first securitization of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds by issuing $50 million in privately placed term Notes. The securitization was structured and placed by Natixis Securities Americas LLC, a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and subsidiary of Natixis.
As the administrator of the CaliforniaFIRST PACE financing program, Renew Financial works with more than 300 city and county governments in California to provide PACE financing to nearly 20 million Californians. PACE allows property owners to voluntarily finance the entire cost of energy efficiency, water efficiency, and renewable energy upgrades to their homes and businesses and then repay those costs as a line item on their property tax bill over the course of up to 25 years.
“This bond issuance is an important milestone showing our progress toward enabling property owners nationwide to save money while reducing energy use,” commented Renew Financial CEO Cisco DeVries. “In the past year, we have completed financing for over $68 million in energy efficiency projects, expanded market coverage from 30% of California to 70%, as well as signed a major financing partnership with SolarCity to enable more commercial properties to go solar. Now, we are building a new, high-quality asset class in the form of a secure bond product that provides a return to investors while supporting the clean energy economy.”
About Renew Financial
Renew Financial was founded in 2008 by Cisco DeVries, who originated the idea of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing model. Endorsed by President Obama and named by Scientific American as one of the top 20 ideas that can change the world, PACE enables property owners to finance the entire cost of energy and water efficiency and renewable energy upgrades to their homes and businesses, and then repay those costs on their property tax bill. Renew Financial has a partnership with SolarCity targeted at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) utilizing PACE, and PACE is also a central component of a major White House clean energy and energy efficiency initiative unveiled in August 2015. Renew Financial’s other financing products including the Warehouse for Energy Efficiency Loans (WHEEL), which opens the residential energy efficiency finance market to large institutional investors.
