ICE and European Investment Bank advance with financing of $400 million for electrical infrastructure

This ICE release was published using machine translation.

This Tuesday, June 18, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) delivered a letter of interest to begin the analysis of a potential credit operation with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the financial institution of the European Union, whose shareholders are its member states.

The letter was delivered after the EIB expressed, through an indicative offer, its interest in financing Institute projects for $400 million. This exchange is part of the exploratory process carried out by ICE in the search for financial support to modernize and develop the national generation, transmission and distribution network.

The officialization of the letter from ICE to the EIB enables the Bank and Institute teams to study the associated financing options. Both organizations began talks in February 2023, with the support of the Delegation of the European Union in Costa Rica.

“With the letter we began exhaustive technical work in the search for optimal and competitive financing schemes, which is a priority financial objective in our business and corporate strategy,” said Keiner Arce, ICE Finance Manager.

Pierre-Louis Lempereur, ambassador of the European Union in Costa Rica, indicated that “we are very happy that ICE and Costa Rica have decided to take this important step towards a more modern and efficient electrical network. The support of the European Union through the potential EIB financing of $400 million is part of our action to strengthen the Regional Electricity Market (MER), an engine of Central American development and integration. The action follows the Global Gateway Investment Agenda adopted by mutual agreement at the EU-CELAC Summit (July 2023).”

For his part, Marco Acuña, president of Grupo ICE, stated that “we seek greater energy integration in Central America with the strengthening of the MER, to promote a renewable matrix and guarantee universal access to electricity. The health of our finances must be reflected in addressing the electricity demand and the quality of life of Costa Ricans.”

The terms and conditions of possible financing will be defined during the EIB's due diligence process, without this constituting an obligation or a recognition of costs or expenses incurred during this stage.