Nexif Energy secures project debt and partners with ratch for its co-gen power project in Thailand

Bangkok/Singapore 16 March 2020 – Nexif Energy, the Asian and Australian power company, has entered into debt facility and partnership agreements for the development of a 92MW gas-fired co-generation project at the SSP industrial estate in the Rayong province of Thailand.

The Rayong co-generation project will sell electricity under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and serve industrial customers in the SSP Industrial Estate located in the fast-growing Eastern Economic Corridor of Thailand. It will utilize the latest, most efficient combined cycle gas turbine technology available at this scale.

Debt funding for the project is provided by a consortium of Kasikornbank Public Company Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) Public Company Ltd. and equity funding is by Nexif Energy and its project partner, Ratch Group Public Company Ltd. (RATCH).

RATCH is a leading power and infrastructure company active in Thailand and across the APAC region and is taking a 49% stake in the project, with Nexif Energy continuing to hold 51%.

Nexif Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Surender Singh said: “Nexif Energy is pleased to enter into the partnership with RATCH on the Rayong project. We look forward to working together on this project and building our relationship.

This co-generation project, our first investment in Thailand, has received strong support from the country’s institutions and regulators. The project helps build Nexif Energy’s portfolio and represents an important step towards our vision of delivering clean, reliable power to our customers.”

Mr. Kijja Sripatthangkura, Chief Executive Officer, RATCH Group Public Company Limited, said: “The joint investment in the Rayong co-generation project with Nexif Energy represents a strategic move for RATCH in establishing a generation base in the eastern region which will help secure national power supply to the industrial sector.

The Rayong co-generation project is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2022. RATCH is committed to a long-term partnership with Nexif Energy and welcomes the alignment of our investment goals and target Asian and Australian markets.”

Matthew Bartley, Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Nexif Energy, commented: “Today’s announcement marks Nexif Energy’s entry into Thailand and is a significant step in implementing our plan to become a leading power generation developer and investor in Asia and Australia. We look forward to acquiring and developing more projects in Thailand and our other target markets.”

Denham Capital Managing Director, Saurabh Anand, added: “Denham Capital believes that competitively priced power is a major enabler of industrial and economic growth and improvement in living standards, in particular in economies currently experiencing or on the cusp of high growth.

Gas-fired projects are the cleanest and most efficient form of conventional power project and in many countries can result in carbon intensity savings as they are a cleaner alternative for baseload power compared to business-as-usual power generation.

Following on from Nexif Energy’s acquisition of the Song Giang Hydropower JSC in Vietnam in December 2019, the Rayong project brings us closer to our target of investing in a portfolio of more than 1000MW of renewable and dispatchable generation projects in Asia and Australia by 2021.”