Case Study: Chermac Energy Corporation

By 2006 Chermac had established itself in the wind power industry as a successful project developer. At that time, the team members were extremely experienced and qualified in the areas of land acquisition, interconnection, PPAs, and project management, but they realized they were lacking a financial advisory partner that offered an extensive market perspective as well as financial transaction expertise required to achieve the company’s long-term goals. Chermac engaged NorthWinds for its domain knowledge and financial advisory expertise in order to meet its project objectives. In essence, NorthWinds has worked as de facto members of Chermac’s team providing ongoing market insight, substantial financial modeling expertise and identification of potential buyers from a within a large and diverse global marketplace. Such transaction services required a close understanding of objectives, challenges and opportunities. In turn, NorthWinds, as exclusive financial advisor, has sold eleven Chermac wind energy projects totaling over 2,500 megawatts across six portfolios in which none of the projects had PPAs. These transactions are as follows:

While playing the primary role of sell side advisor which included creating general company and project solicitation materials, developing all project models and playing a critical role in negotiating final purchase & sale agreements, NorthWinds took on a far more expansive role that has included such tasks commensurate with a full fledged CFO role. These tasks included detailed financial modeling for RFP purposes, review of turbine procurement and EPC contracts and the possible sale of the overall company as a corporate transaction. As a result of its work, NorthWinds is currently involved in an additional 1,000 MW of project transactions on behalf of Chermac.

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