Goldman Sachs targets $1 billion Japanese renewable bonds

• 10 years ago (2015-05-25)

Asia 984 Renewables 811

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The Japan Renewable Project Bond Trust will give investors the opportunity to buy investment grade-rated securitised renewable energy bonds. Initially, the focus will be on solar energy but this will be expanded to other types of renewable energy assets as opportunities arise.

The set-up of this trust partly comes due to a rush of investment into solar after the introduction of preferential tariffs introduced by the government in 2012. This also follows previous work by Goldman Sachs in raising $74 million for a dozen solar projects across Japan, through the sale of revenue bonds that were rated "BBB" or above.

Toru Inoue, Vice President at Goldman Sachs’ infrastructure and structured financing group, said: “Over the past year or two, I do think things are moving much quicker than in the past 10 years.”

Previously, Goldman Sachs has also been a significant investor in Japanese solar projects – as witnessed its establishment of Japan Renewable Energy, which builds and operates renewable energy platforms.