Chestnut Carbon - JP Morgan

Terms

Announced

22 Jul 2025

Instrument

Debt

Amount

US$210mReported as up to US$210 million

Source

chestnutcarbon.com

Parties

Project developer

Chestnut Carbon

Country

United States

Capital providers

Capital providers and the amount counted for each

Party	Role	Amount	Basis
JPMorgan ChaseAlso arranger	Lender	US$35.0m	Estimated: an even share, 1 of 6
CoBank	Lender	US$35.0m	Estimated: an even share, 1 of 6
BMO Financial Group	Lender	US$35.0m	Estimated: an even share, 1 of 6
East West Bank	Lender	US$35.0m	Estimated: an even share, 1 of 6
Societe Generale	Lender	US$35.0m	Estimated: an even share, 1 of 6
Standard Chartered	Lender	US$35.0m	Estimated: an even share, 1 of 6

Arranged by

Arrangers and what each arranged

Party	Role	Arranged	Basis
JPMorgan Chase	Arranger	US$210m	Sole arranger: the whole transaction

Carbon

Pathway

ARR (afforestation, reforestation, revegetation)

Project type as recorded

Afforestation / reforestation

Backed by offtakes from

• Microsoft

· signed before this financing

Structure and cover

Structure flag

Non-carbon collateral

Insurance type

Delivery

Insurance provider

CFC Underwriting (underwriter); Marsh (broker)

What happened

Non-recourse project finance facility of up to US$210m for the Chestnut Sustainable Restoration Project (afforestation in the southern United States), led by J.P. Morgan with CoBank, BMO, East West Bank and Societe Generale as lenders and Standard Chartered participating as an arranger (and as a result not receiving arranger credit in our league tables); secured on land and backed by the Microsoft offtake of about 7m tonnes over 25 years. Scale is about 60,000 acres, about 35m native trees

Kumo note

This syndicated loan was backed by land as an asset, as well as an upside driven by the large Microsoft offtake contract on future carbon credits. Carbon credit non-delivery cover from CFC Underwriting, brokered by Marsh, is what allowed J.P. Morgan to extend the debt on a non-recourse basis rather than requiring recourse to the balance sheet, which is the single most transferable feature of the deal. The US$210m is the committed size of a facility that closed in July 2025; the drawn amount has not been disclosed.

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