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The Coalition for Green Capital has announced its first deals since being awarded $5 billion under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for green lending.
The green bank network plans to extend a $100 million line of credit to Coventry Structured Investments, a Los Angeles-based asset management firm, to provide loans for commercial real estate energy retrofits. A separate, $75 million loan to Beverly, Mass.-based Highland Electric Fleets will help finance the rollout of 1,300 e-buses in school districts across the country.
CGC says the two investments will mobilize a total of $1.2 billion in public-private investing. “That’s our basic model: take our money, have a big multiple with other money, and try to have significant impact,” CGC’s Reed Hundt told ImpactAlpha. The group aims to allocate all of its $5 billion award within 12 months.
Capital leverage
Coventry makes Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, or C-PACE, loans to small businesses for green upgrades. The loans can be refinanced to recycle capital. Hundt said he expects to see a 10x multiple on CGC’s investment.
“This facility will create significant liquidity to allow projects to progress while focusing the benefits of the projects on core values to both companies,” said Coventry’s Rasool Alizadeh.
The line of credit may be provided from CGC or through member green banks located in states where Coventry operates.
For the school bus fleet upgrades, Highland will tap grants and rebates available through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program in addition to the 10-year loan from CGC. Some of the debt will help create vehicle-to-grid programs that generate revenues by helping utilities balance their electricity loads.
