CoPower and Vancity Capital Corporation team up to bring Green Bonds to Canadians
- Vancity Capital Corp. injects $1 million in financing to CoPower for revolving credit facility
- CoPower launching its $20 million Green Bond on March 1
February 23, 2017, Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – CoPower Inc., a leading Canadian clean energy investment platform, announced today $1 million in financing from Vancity Capital Corporation to accelerate the development of CoPower’s innovative Green Bonds.
Vancity Capital Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancity), is one of five impact investors financing a revolving credit facility that provides CoPower access to flexible capital to finance clean energy projects and make Green Bonds accessible to people across Canada. Today’s announcement comes just under a week before CoPower issues its $20 million Green Bond. Interested investors are welcome to register for updates ahead of the March 1 launch, at www.copower.me.
“We're thrilled to support CoPower in making clean energy and impact investing accessible to more Canadians,” said Christine Bergeron, Vancity’s Vice President of Impact Investing, Wealth Management and Community Real Estate. “This marks the start of an exciting relationship between Vancity Capital Corp. and CoPower, and a unique opportunity to build on our impact investment mandate.”
“We’re very excited to have Vancity Capital Corp. as one of the groups supporting the development of our bonds,” said CoPower CEO David Berliner. “This is the first involvement in a CoPower product by a mainstream financial institution, and it’s fitting that it comes from Vancity Capital Corp., which has a proven and strong track record of making community investments accessible to British Columbians.”
“This catalytic credit facility to which Vancity Capital Corp. is lending makes our Green Bond model possible,” says Trish Nixon, CoPower’s Director of Investments. “Vancity Capital Corp.’s infusion of capital allows us to make initial loans to clean energy projects; Bondholders enter the picture only once we can point to specific clean energy projects they can see and understand.”
The revolving structure of the Credit Facility means that these investors leverage their capital repeatedly and multiply their impact. For example, by revolving an expected five times, Vancity Capital Corp.’s $1 million in financing would help CoPower to mobilize $5 million for clean energy projects and offer Green Bonds to up to 1,000 individuals, for many of whom this will be the first opportunity to invest in clean energy infrastructure.
How the CoPower Credit Facility works:
- Investors like Vancity Capital Corp. finance the CoPower Credit Facility.
- CoPower uses available funds to make senior, secured loans to a portfolio of clean energy projects that satisfy specific investment criteria and generate revenue from energy savings or renewable energy production.
- CoPower issues Green Bonds to the retail investing public. Proceeds from bond sales are used to purchase the portfolio of loans.
- The Credit Facility is replenished, and funds are made available for new project loans.
Vancity Capital Corp. joins the Bealight Foundation, as well as the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Ivey Foundation and the Hamilton Community Foundation, who seeded the Credit Facility in October 2016, increasing its current value to $4.2 million.
Additional information
For more information or interviews please contact:
Lauryn Drainie, CoPower, lauryn.drainie@copower.me, 647-465-3723
Vancity media relations, mediarelations@vancity.com, 778-837-0394
About CoPower: CoPower is a unique clean energy investment platform whose mission it is to empower Canadians to participate in and profit the transition to a clean energy future. CoPower’s green investment products allow individuals to build and diversify their portfolios while helping build clean energy infrastructure across North America. The company has $10 million in assets under management. Learn more at copower.me.
About Vancity Capital Corp.: Vancity Capital Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancity). Vancity Capital Corp. specializes in growth capital, emerging growth and mezzanine investments for growth-stage companies with an impact focus. It seeks to finance mature and middle-market companies for expansions, strategic acquisitions, marketing, and management and partner buyouts. It typically provides financing in the form of stretch debt, subordinated debt, convertible debentures and mezzanine financing.