Peru has long been a familiar player in the sovereign bond markets, regularly placing billion-dollar deals with global investors. Yet it was the private sector that rewrote the record books in October 2024, when Orygen Energía issued the largest corporate bond in the country’s history.
The company, a diversified power producer owned by Actis through its Niagara vehicle, closed a $1.45 billion financing package that broke new ground in Peru’s capital markets.
“This was the largest issuance for Peru, which is a smallish emerging market, and also for Actis,” says Bernardo Graf, principal in Actis’s Energy Infrastructure division.
The deal included $1.2 billion in 10-year notes carrying a 5.746% coupon, supported by a $100 million term loan and a $150 million revolving credit facility. Investor demand surged, pushing the order book to $4.8 billion – nearly four times oversubscribed – rated investment-grade BBB- by Fitch. “We always knew that the quality of the credit was very high and we would have a strong deal, but we were a bit surprised by the amount of demand, which came close to $5 billion,” Graf notes.
The bond replaced the acquisition financing used earlier in 2024, when Actis acquired a 92.35% stake in Enel Generación Perú and a 100% stake in Compañía Energética Veracruz for more than $1.3 billion. That landmark acquisition gave Actis a 2.2GW platform of hydro, solar, wind and thermal assets – the largest renewables portfolio in Peru. Actis rebranded the platform as Orygen, positioning it as an independent power producer and one of the three largest players in the country.
From the start, Graf explains, refinancing was part of the strategy. “When we acquired this business we put in place an acquisition financing facility, which is something we had done in the past quite successfully with previous acquisitions,” he says. The permanent financing solidified Orygen’s balance sheet and signaled a long-term commitment to Peru’s energy sector.
Orygen’s strength lies in its diversification and scale. With 2.3GW of installed capacity across 13 plants, including seven hydro facilities, two wind farms, two solar parks and two thermal plants, it is Peru’s largest producer of renewable energy. More than 95% of its cash flows are contracted under long-term power purchase agreements with investment-grade counterparties, providing predictability and resilience. The company also has a robust pipeline: 600MW of renewables were under construction at the time of the acquisition, with another 100MW expected online in 2025 and 400MW under review.
The timing of this expansion could hardly be better. Peru’s economy is heavily driven by mining, its biggest source of FDI and export revenues. The country is the world’s third-largest copper producer and ranks among the top 10 globally in gold, zinc and other minerals. In June 2024, the Ministry of Energy and Mines listed a portfolio of 67 mining projects worth $64.1 billion. Rising demand from the sector is expected to accelerate electricity consumption through the end of the decade. At the same time, Peru is advancing a 500kV transmission line to link its grid with Ecuador, a step toward a broader Andean interconnection with Colombia as well.
Investors recognized both the company’s fundamentals and the market tailwinds. The transaction benefitted from a strong shadow book of orders amid a scarcity of infrastructure-related paper from Peru. Not only was it the largest ever non-sovereign issuance from the country, it was also the largest single-tranche corporate bond by a Peruvian private company, underscoring the milestone for both Actis and the local market.
For Actis, the deal represented its largest-ever capital markets debt raise and its fourth landmark transaction in Latin America within two years. The bond achieved investment-grade ratings across the board and allocations skewed toward top-tier global asset managers, a sign of confidence in the platform’s trajectory.
Graf sees only upside going forward. “We see continued growth in Peru,” he says. “Peru is driven by the mining sector and from now to 2030 we see an accelerated pace of growth as mines continue to come online.”
With Orygen’s record-breaking financing, Actis and its partners not only redefined what’s possible in Peru’s private capital markets – they also positioned the company to help power the country’s next chapter of economic expansion.
Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Andes
Orygen Energía
$1.2bn 5.75% 144A/Reg S notes due 2034; $100m term loan; $150m revolving credit facility
ponsor: Actis
Issuer/Borrower: Orygen Energia
Joint Bookrunners and Joint Lead Arrangers: BBVA Securities; BNP Paribas; Citigroup; Goldman Sachs; J.P. Morgan; Natixis; Santander
Lenders’ legal counsel: Estudio Echecopar; Paul Hastings
Sponsors’ legal counsel: Garrigues; Milbank
All supporting financial institutions and law firms were transmitted to LatinFinance by the award category winners. For updates please email awards@latinfinance.com