Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The first question is about the equity investment, how much money went in, what form it was in and so on. The investors are providing equity funding in NBI Infrastructure and NBI Deployment through the purchase of shares and the provision of shareholder loans. Using both of these instruments is a standard form of investment infrastructure and this is in compliance with the project agreement. The interest earned on shareholder loans forms a large part of the overall commercial returns for the investors and this is aligned with the tender submission, which met the minimum requirements regarding financial standing and funding.

Clause 40 of the project agreement requires that payment of shareholder contributions on or before the effective date be in accordance with schedule 3.12 and for the agreed funding to be in place. The funding takes the form of a subscription guarantee agreement between Metallah and NBI Infrastructure and NBI Deployment plus a guarantee in favour of NBI Infrastructure and NBI Deployment from Granahan McCourt Limited. Subscription agreements between Metallah and NBI Infrastructure provide for a subscription for 1 million shares of €1 each, or €1 million, in each of NBI Infrastructure and NBI Deployment. We know this funding requirement is contained in the clause dealing with equity investment. There is also the issue of up to €178 million of 12% unsecured loan notes to NBI Infrastructure and up to €43 million in 12% unsecured loan notes to NBI Deployment, to be drawn down in tranches, with €4 million of this being a standby shareholder loan. We know these funding requirements are contained in clauses 2.2 and 2.3 of each agreement, entitled shareholder loan and rescue loan, respectively.

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