BOSTON, November 6, 2011 –
Ontario Power Generation Inc. (“OPG”) outshone dozens of competitors to win the
Association for Financial Professionals’ 2011 Pinnacle Grand Prize, which
recognizes excellence in treasury and finance. The Pinnacle Grand Prize,
sponsored by Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC), was presented Sunday at the
Opening General Session of the AFP Annual Conference in Boston.
OPG’s
treasury team executed a ground-breaking financing program with unique
technical features that resulted in considerable savings. The most critical
element was repositioning traditional construction project financing as a
longer-term corporate finance going-concern. The project gained acceptance from
lenders and credit rating agencies as a hybrid entity, enabling periodic
financing over construction, versus pre‐financing
the entire project. The strategy addressed short‐term
financing requirements during construction through a commercial paper program
and bullet bonds, rather than with traditional bank financing and amortizing
bonds, resulting in savings in excess of $50 million for the project.
Neither
OPG’s lending group nor credit rating agencies had seen this solution before in
project financing. This innovative and flexible Financing will have a positive
impact not only on OPG, but also results in an enduring effect on the industry
through its potential to be replicated by other market participants. “The
structure and deal execution has garnered considerable attention from other
utilities, dealers and the investment community.” said John Lee, OPG Vice
President-Treasurer.
Wells
Fargo donated $10,000 to OPG’s charity of choice, Toronto City Mission’s “Role
Model Moms” program. Danny Peltz, executive vice president and head of Wells
Fargo Treasury Management, and Jim Kaitz, AFP President & CEO, hosted the
ceremony.
OPG
was chosen from among two other finalists: Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.OPG,
Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft were selected as the three Pinnacle Finalists because
their dynamic solutions made
treasury and finance operations run more efficiently and effectively at their
organization.
OPG is an electricity
generating company whose principal business is the generation and sale of
electricity in Ontario, Canada. OPG’s generation portfolio has a total
in-service capacity of over 19,000 megawatts making it one of the largest power
generators in North America.
“AFP is extremely proud to honor
the 2011 Pinnacle Award Grand Prize winner,” said Kaitz. “The solutions
presented by Ontario Power demonstrate transformation of the treasury function,
as well as forward-thinking in a year of great change.”
ABOUT AFP®
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