Acciona has borrowed ¥45 billion, about $303 million, from Japanese banks to fund climate projects in Spain. That makes it the first Spanish company to close a Samurai loan. The amount is unremarkable for a company of Acciona's size. The list of lenders is not.
Key takeaways
- Acciona closed a yen-denominated green Samurai loan of ¥45 billion, about $303.3 million, announced on 5 February 2024, becoming the first Spanish company to close a Samurai loan in the Japanese market.
- The Acciona Samurai loan has two tranches, with three-year and five-year terms, and was provided by 17 banks, 11 of them new financial partners for Acciona and mainly Japanese regional banks.
- MUFG and Mizuho acted as joint coordinators of the Acciona Samurai loan, with Mizuho as green loan coordinator and documentation agent and MUFG as facility agent.
- The Acciona Samurai loan was issued under Acciona's Sustainable Impact Financing Framework, and Acciona closed its 2023 financial year with 78 percent of its corporate debt in sustainable financing structures.
- Enerdatics records 33 debt financings in Spain announced in 2024, 30 with a disclosed amount, at a median of $214.6 million; Acciona's Samurai loan ranks 11th of the 30 and is the only Samurai loan in Enerdatics' financing records.
What is a Samurai loan?
A Samurai loan is a yen-denominated loan made by Japanese lenders to a borrower based outside Japan. It is the loan market cousin of the Samurai bond, which foreign issuers sell to Japanese investors in yen.
The attraction usually runs in both directions. Japanese lenders gain a creditworthy foreign borrower for their yen. The borrower gets access to a pool of lenders it would not otherwise reach, and diversifies away from its usual relationship banks.
For a Spanish company, the loan arrives in yen while most of its costs are in euros. Leap does not record whether Acciona hedged the currency, so the effective cost of the money is not known. The structure itself is recorded: ¥45 billion split into a three-year and a five-year tranche.
Why does the lender list matter more than the amount?
Because the loan is as much about relationships as money. Seventeen banks took part. Eleven of them had never lent to Acciona before, and most of those are Japanese regional banks, the lenders that sit outside Japan's largest banking groups.
That is the real return on doing something for the first time. A borrower that brings eleven new lenders into its funding base has more banks to call next time, more competition for its business and less dependence on a small group of European houses. For a company that has closed more than 70 financing transactions in seven years, widening the lender pool is a strategic goal in its own right.
The two largest Japanese banks did the coordination. MUFG and Mizuho were joint coordinators. Mizuho also acted as green loan coordinator, the bank that checks the use of proceeds against the green framework, and as documentation agent. MUFG served as facility agent, the bank that administers payments once the loan is drawn.
What counts as a green use of the money?
Whatever qualifies under Acciona's Sustainable Impact Financing Framework. A financing framework is the rulebook a company publishes to define which projects its green or sustainable debt can fund. Lenders rely on it rather than approving each project one by one.
Acciona's framework is broad. It covers onshore and offshore wind, solar PV and concentrated solar power, bioenergy, hydropower and hydrogen production. It also covers the manufacture of renewable technologies, electricity transmission, distribution and storage, rail and zero-emission transport, water and waste treatment, and certified green buildings.
The width is deliberate. Acciona is an infrastructure group as well as a renewables developer, and a framework this wide lets one corporate loan fund wind farms, rail lines and water plants alike. Leap records the proceeds as earmarked for climate change mitigation activities and sustainable procurement commitments.
How does the loan fit Acciona's wider debt strategy?
It extends a habit rather than starting one. Acciona issued its first green bond in 2016. By the end of its 2023 financial year, 78 percent of its corporate debt was held in sustainable financing structures, meaning loans and bonds tied to green or sustainability criteria.
At that share, almost every new corporate borrowing has to be labelled sustainable to keep the ratio steady. Taking that label into a new market is a way to keep growing the sustainable book without leaning harder on the same European lenders.
Where does the loan sit among Spanish energy financings?
In the upper half, but not near the top. Enerdatics' data shows 33 debt financings in Spain announced in 2024, of which 30 disclose an amount. Their median is $214.6 million, and Acciona's $303.3 million ranks 11th.
The largest Spanish debt deals that year were corporate facilities rather than project loans. Siemens Gamesa's $1.31 billion revolving credit line, Naturgy's roughly $1 billion from the European Investment Bank and Iberdrola's $762 million EIB loan sit at the top. The Samurai loan belongs in that corporate group, but it is the only one funded from Japan. It is also the only Samurai loan anywhere in Leap's financing records.
What does the deal signal for European renewables finance?
That yen markets are open to European energy borrowers willing to do the groundwork. Japanese lenders have been active in renewables for years, often through project finance led by the large city banks. A Samurai loan reaches further, into regional banks, and Acciona's eleven new lenders show that pool is available to a Spanish borrower.
Others have used Japanese capital in different forms. India's REC Limited raised money a few weeks earlier through its first yen green bond, split into three tranches. Acciona itself has been reshaping its balance sheet through asset sales as well as borrowing, including the sale of an operating Spanish wind portfolio to Galp.
The question Leap's record cannot answer is cost. Without the currency hedge or the margin, it is impossible to say whether yen funding was cheaper than euros or simply wider. For a borrower with 70 deals behind it, the broader lender base may have been the point.
Frequently asked questions
What is Acciona's Samurai loan? Acciona closed a yen-denominated green loan of ¥45 billion, about $303.3 million, from 17 banks in the Japanese market, announced on 5 February 2024. It was the first Samurai loan closed by a Spanish company.
Which banks arranged Acciona's Samurai loan? MUFG and Mizuho were joint coordinators. Mizuho acted as green loan coordinator and documentation agent, and MUFG as facility agent. Eleven of the 17 lenders were new to Acciona, mainly Japanese regional banks.
What will Acciona use the Samurai loan for? The funds are earmarked for climate change mitigation activities and sustainable procurement commitments under Acciona's Sustainable Impact Financing Framework.
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