Comrie takes Quayle Munro down green route with Argyll plan

Published Date: 31 March 2009
By Hamish Rutherford

EDINBURGH investment bank Quayle Munro has signalled a new focus on green energy projects after being appointed to raise up to £70 million to build the Carraig Gheal Wind Farm in Argyll.
Quayle Munro's head of corporate finance Rob Cormie yesterday admitted that obtaining large debt facilities for new projects in the face of a recession continued to be difficult. But he struck a confident note over the Argyll scheme, maintaining he had a strong proposition to go to banks with.Speaking as his firm announced it had been chosen to raise the cash, Cormie added: "There is no reason why we can't get this done over the summer".Carraig Gheal is a joint venture between Alloa-based GreenPower and Statkraft, a Norwegian state owned electricity company. Granted planning permission last June, the 60 megawatt proposal could be completed next year. But it is dependent on debt finance and while many projects are being held up by funding issues, Cormie claimed there is still investor interest in projects with potential.He explained: "There are still six to eight banks in this market who have capital to invest, and its a very sensible, well-structured project in the right place."While some investment funds were mandated to invest in ethical businesses, Cormie said he would be pitching to banks for the funding on purely financial grounds. He added: "It won't get overt brownie points because it's green, it'll get brownie points because it's well-structured, and they (banks] can make money out of it."A former City investment banker and partner on KPMG's corporate finance team, Cormie was hired by Quayle Munro last autumn to "sort out corporate finance in Scotland".Yesterday he signalled a new focus on Scottish wind power for the Aim-listed bank, claiming good projects could be financially sound in a regulatory system which encouraged renewable energy projects. "For Scotland this is a core market that has, and will, survive."