CoPower Green Bonds

CoPower Green Bonds are available to individual investors, pending a positive suitability assessment.

The minimum investment amount in CoPower Green Bonds is $10,000. Thereafter, investors can purchase bonds in increments of $1,000.

Depending on your financial situation, there may also be an upper limit to the amount you can invest in CoPower Green Bonds under Canadian securities law. You don’t need to worry about these limits as our investor relations team will take care of these details but we have set out some guidance below for your information.

There is no legally defined upper limit to the amount an accredited investor may invest; however CoPower's suitability assessment will still apply.

Eligible investors may invest up to $30,000 in products offered under the Offering Memorandum exemption in any given 12-month period but in some cases they may invest up to a maximum of $100,000.

Investors that are neither eligible investors nor accredited Investors (we call them “public investors”) may invest up to $10,000 in products offered under the Offering Memorandum exemption in any 12-month period.

There are many categories of accredited investors, the ones we most commonly encounter are individuals that have: (i) either more than $200,000 in net annual income before taxes, or more than $300,000 in net annual income before taxes together with their spouse, in either case for each of 2018, 2019 and expected in 2020, or (ii) $1,000,000 in financial assets net of related liabilities.

There are also many categories of eligible investors, the ones we most commonly encounter are individuals that have: (i) at least $75,000 in net annual income before taxes, or $125,000 in net annual income before taxes with their spouse, in either case for each of 2018, 2019 and expected in 2020, or (ii) $400,000 in net assets.

A “public investor” has less than $75,000 in annual income or $125,000 in annual income with their spouse and less than $400,000 in net assets.

You will start earning interest immediately on the date that your CoPower Green Bonds are issued. CoPower Green Bonds are issued on the first day of every month.

If you select a simple interest bond, you will receive quarterly interest payments deposited directly into your bank account, and principal will be repaid at maturity.

If you select a compounding interest bond, each quarterly interest distribution will be re-invested into green bonds, and you will then earn interest on all interest accrued, as well as on your principal investment. In this case, all principal and interest would be repaid at maturity.

The project loans underlying CoPower Green Bonds are secured by the project assets. We are also careful to invest in projects we believe to be of high quality: clean energy projects, primarily in Canada, that use well-established technologies and that sell or save energy to support loan repayments. Most, although not all, projects have agreements in place with a strong counterparty (e.g. a crown corporation, utility, portfolio of homeowners) to purchase the energy generated or the energy savings services. We also require certain security mechanisms, such as insurance, warranties, and debt-service reserve funds when appropriate, to further mitigate risk for our investors.

Important disclosures about our investment criteria, risks of an investment in CoPower Green Bonds, conflicts of interest and risk mitigation procedures are outlined in the Green Bond Offering Memorandum dated January 31, 2020. All investors should read the Offering Memorandum before investing in CoPower Green Bonds.

CoPower Green Bonds are not rated by an external agency at this time due to the cost of third-party ratings relative to the size of the offering ($20M).

CoPower originates loans through trusted channel partners: energy firms with specialized development expertise that manage the installation process. Each project loan follows a standard due diligence exercise and checklist and is structured by our team of professionals, with oversight provided by the Chief Credit Officer and support from experienced legal counsel.

We maintain a standard due diligence checklist which is adapted to suit the needs of each individual loan. CoPower’s due diligence typically includes a review of both the sponsor and the project in question.

CoPower will review the sponsor’s corporate history, background, development expertise, management team, financial performance, liabilities, conflicts of interest and share capitalization. In terms of the project, CoPower will review and analyze financial projections and assumptions, the project development schedule, suppliers of technology and feedstock, operations, maintenance regulatory considerations, environmental problems or claims and insurance.

Details regarding our due diligence process can be found in the CoPower Green Bond Offering Memorandum dated January 31, 2020.

No, and for good reason. In order to mitigate risk for investors, we pool together the loans we’ve made to clean energy projects into a diversified portfolio that backs our Green Bonds. By combining hundreds of projects across different geographies, technologies and counterparties, we prevent bondholders from being overly exposed to any one area. This is an important feature of our bonds and is in part what makes them suitable for individuals.

CoPower bears all issuing, management and administrative expenses of CoPower Green Bonds, so the projected annual return that we disclose is your expected net return.

Note that some financial institutions may charge additional fees for holding private placements in registered accounts. Please inquire with your registered account custodian whether additional account administration, transfer, placement or redemption fees apply.

If payment is made by wire transfer or cheque instead of pre-authorized debit, a $25 processing fee may apply.

CoPower Green Bonds are eligible to be held in most types of registered accounts (eg. RRSP, TFSA).

All CoPower clients can open a registered account at Olympia Trust or Questrade and invest in CoPower Green Bonds. Certain restrictions and administrative fees apply, and your financial institution may charge you fees for holding private placements on your behalf.

Check out our RRSP Calculator tool (above) to find out if this route is right for you, or email investors@copower.me and one of our investment representatives would be happy to help you.

While the majority of investors choose to invest directly with CoPower, there are growing number of financial institutions, wealth managers and online investment brokerages that have successfully facilitated CoPower Green Bond investments for their clients. If you have an advisor, get in touch with us and we’ll help you explore your options: investors@copower.me.

Questrade: All CoPower investors can open an account at Questrade to purchase or hold CoPower Green Bonds in a TFSA or RRSP, providing that the redemption date of the bonds is prior to the client turning 71, or before the account rolls over to a RIF or LIF account. Please note, Questrade will no longer allow RESP, RDSP, RIFS, LIFS or LIRA accounts to hold CoPower Green Bonds.

Olympia Trust: All CoPower investors can open an account at Olympia Trust to purchase or hold CoPower Green Bonds in registered accounts.

It’s important to note that financial institutions each have different policies and possibly fees associated with holding private placements on your behalf. Ask your current account administrator about their private placement policies, or email investors@copower.me for more information.

Yes. CoPower Green Bonds can be purchased on a client’s behalf as a private placement. Please email investors@copower.me for more information.

No, CoPower Green Bonds are private investments and are not traded on any public exchange and cannot be easily sold or traded on a secondary market. Investors should be prepared to hold their bonds to maturity.