Manzano's firm sold four power plants

Former Minister of the Interiro José Luis Manzano, together with two funds, sold power plants to an Argentine group

Former Interior Minister José Luis Manzano and the Gramercy and Gemcorp funds sold four power plants located in the province of Buenos Aires to SCC Power, an energy company belonging to the MSU group of the important agricultural businessmen Manuel Santos de Uribelarrea Duhau and Manuel Santos Uribelarrea Balcarce (father and son, respectively). The transaction was for almost US$528 million. These assets have a history.

The Canadian company Stoneway obtained in 2016, through its controlled company Auracaria, a US$500 million loan to build four power plants in the province of Buenos Aires. The funds were provided by several institutional funds including Blackrock and Fidelity. In addition, the company took a secured loan from Jose Luis Manzano's Integra group and the Gramercy and Gemcorp funds, which ultimately took over the company when it was unable to repay its debt.

The new owners tried to avoid bankruptcy through negotiations with creditors. That was when SCC Power appeared and acquired 100% of Stoneway's assets, which included the four power generation plants located in Argentina (Araucaria's Matheu, Las Palmas and Luján, and SPI's San Pedro), with a total installed capacity of 737 MW.

In consideration for the assets, SCC Power issued to certain lenders and holders of Stoneway: (i) first-lien, secured, 6.0% fixed rate notes, in the amount of nearly US$18 million (US$17.861 million), due 2028 , (ii) second-lien, secured, 8.0% fixed rate notes, in the amount of US$310 million, due 2028 , and (iii) third-lien, secured, 4.0% fixed rate notes, in the amount of US$200 million, due 2032 . "The first interest payment on the notes is due on September 15, 2022?, the acquiring company informed in a statement.

After reaching a successful conclusion of the negotiation, agreeing on the acquisition and reaching an agreement with the shareholders, SCC Power made a judicial filing in the United States, since Stoneway was in what is known there as chapter eleven, by means of which a company that cannot pay its creditors, declares bankruptcy, but is given the opportunity to reorganize its business and continue with its production.

"The restructuring and acquisition was carried out in accordance with the plan of reorganization filed with the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York under Chapter 11 and the Canada Business Corporations Act, which became effective on May 17, 2022?, it was indicated from SCC Power.

As mentioned above, SCC Power belongs to the MSU Group (controlled by Manuel Santos de Uribelarrea Duhau and Manuel Santos Uribelarrea Balcarce), which had its origins in the late nineties in the agricultural sector and is one of the five companies with more hectares planted in Argentina. Currently, the complete structure is as follows: MSU SA, dedicated to agriculture, on the one hand (50% of Uribelarrea father and 50% of the son) and MSU Energy Holding (50% of the father and 50% of the son), which is based in the United Kingdom and is the owner of MSU Energy SA and SCC Power, which has now acquired Stoneway's assets and companies.