NextEnergy Solar Fund Ltd.

Regulatory Filings • Jun 18, 2024

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

RNS Number : 9315S

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited

18 June 2024

I ALEI: 213800ZPHCBDDSQH5447

18 June 2024

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited

("NESF" or the "Company")

Phase II of Capital Recycling Programme

NextEnergy Solar Fund, a leading specialist investor in solar energy and energy storage, is pleased to announce the completion of the second phase of its Capital Recycling Programme (the "Programme") with the successful sale of Whitecross, a 35.22MW operational solar asset.

Phase II of the Programme:

·     Whitecross, located in Lincolnshire, UK, is a 35.22MW utility-scale solar asset that was developed as part of the Company's self-developed project pipeline and energised late last year.

·     A third-party buyer, managed by Downing LLP, purchased Whitecross through a competitive sales process.

·     The sale of Whitecross raised £27m (the "Transaction").

·     The Transaction represents a 1.3x Multiple on Invested Capital, an attractive 14% unlevered IRR, and a 14% premium to the holding value as at 31 March 2024.

·     The Transaction is Net Asset Value ("NAV") accretive to shareholders and will generate an estimated uplift of 0.57p which will be reflected in the Company's NAV per share as at 30 June 2024.

·     The Investment Manager ("NEC") secured potential for further consideration of £1m payable in the event the project benefits from planned changes to network charging before 31 December 2028, bringing the total transaction value to £28m.

·     The total transaction value represents a 1.3x Multiple on Invested Capital, an attractive 15% unlevered IRR, and a 18% premium to the holding value as at 31 March 2024.  It would also generate an estimated uplift of 0.70p if reflected in the Company's NAV per share as at 30 June 2024.

Use of proceeds:

·     Proceeds from the Transaction will be used to reduce the Company's drawn short-term debt via its Revolving Credit Facilities.

Further updates to the Programme:

The Company has successfully sold c.96MW from its 246MW Programme to date, equivalent to c.10% of the Company's total installed capacity. The remaining 150MW in the Programme continues to progress through a competitive sales process to third-party buyers.  The Company will publish further updates about Phase III of the Programme in due course.

Subsidy-free solar asset	Installed Capacity	Type	Status	Price	NAV uplift	Premium	IRR
Hatherden	60MW	Ready-to-build	Sold in Phase I	£15.2m	1.27p 1	100%	57%
Whitecross	35.22MW 2	Operational	Sold in Phase II	£27.0m 3	0.57p 4	14% 3	14% 3
The Grange	50MW	Operational	Third-party competitive sales process	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Lowfield	50MW	Operational	Third-party competitive sales process	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Staughton	50MW	Operational	Third-party competitive sales process	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Footnotes:

(1)  Realised in NAV as at 31 December 2023.

(2)  Originally included in the Capital Recycling Programme with a 36MW design capacity, 35.22MW is the final installed capacity.

(3)  Excluding deferred consideration. Including deferred consideration: Price would be £28m, Premium to holding value would be 18%, and IRR would be 15%.

(4) Estimated uplift which will be reflected in the Company's NAV as at 30 June 2024 excluding deferred consideration. Including deferred consideration, it would generate an estimated uplift of 0.70p if reflected in the Company's NAV per share as at 30 June 2024.

Helen Mahy, Chairwoman of NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited, commented:

"We are pleased with the completion of the Capital Recycling Programme's second phase through the sale of Whitecross, a self-developed solar asset which delivered attractive returns for shareholders with a 14% premium to its holding value.

The Capital Recycling Programme has now successfully sold 96MW of solar assets and the Board remains confident that this transaction alongside further progress in the Capital Recycling Programme will continue to put NextEnergy Solar Fund in an even stronger position to deliver long-term stable returns and value to shareholders into the future."

Ross Grier, Chief Operating Officer and Head of UK Investments at NextEnergy Capital, said:

"NextEnergy Capital have worked tirelessly over the last year to deliver two successful phases of the Company's Capital Recycling Programme at attractive premiums for NextEnergy Solar Fund shareholders. The attractive premium to carrying value for both projects further reinforces our view that the share price discount remains unjustified. The team remains focused on continuing to drive forward the remaining phases of the Capital Recycling Programme to further drive down short-term debt levels and return value to investors."

For further information: NextEnergy Capital Michael Bonte-Friedheim	020 3746 0700 ir@nextenergysolarfund.com
Ross Grier
Stephen Rosser
Peter Hamid (Investor Relations)
RBC Capital Markets	020 7653 4000
Matthew Coakes
Elizabeth Evans Kathryn Deegan
C avendish	020 7397 1 909
James King
William Talkington
H/Advisors Maitland	020 7379 5151
Neil Bennett
Finlay Donaldson
Ocorian Administration (Guernsey) Limited	01481 742642
Kevin Smith

Notes to Editors1:

About NextEnergy Solar Fund

NextEnergy Solar Fund is a specialist solar energy and energy storage investment company that is listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange.

NextEnergy Solar Fund's investment objective is to provide ordinary shareholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns, principally in the form of regular dividends, by investing in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale solar energy and energy storage infrastructure assets.  The majority of NESF's long-term cash flows are inflation-linked via UK government subsidies.

As at 31 March 2024, the Company had an unaudited gross asset value of £1,155m.  More information is available at www.nextenergysolarfund.com

Article 9 Fund

NextEnergy Solar Fund is classified under Article 9 of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and EU Taxonomy Regulation.  NextEnergy Solar Fund's sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector are in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 and can be accessed on the ESG section of both the NextEnergy Solar Fund and NextEnergy Capital websites.

About NextEnergy Group

NextEnergy Solar Fund is managed by NextEnergy Capital, part of the NextEnergy Group.  NextEnergy Group was founded in 2007 to become a leading market participant in the international solar sector.  Since its inception, it has been active in the development, construction, and ownership of solar assets across multiple jurisdictions.  NextEnergy Group operates via its three business units: NextEnergy Capital (Investment Management), WiseEnergy (Operating Asset Management), and Starlight (Asset Development).

·     NextEnergy Capital: has over 17 years of specialist solar expertise having invested in over 400 individual solar plants across the world.  NextEnergy Capital currently manages four institutional funds with a total capacity in excess of 3GW and has assets under management of $4.3bn.  More information is available at www.nextenergycapital.com   

·     WiseEnergy®:   is a leading specialist operating asset manager in the solar sector.  Since its founding, WiseEnergy has provided solar asset management, monitoring and technical due diligence services to over 1,500 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 2.5GW.  More information is available at www.wise-energy.com

·     Starlight: has d eveloped over 100 utility-scale projects internationally and continues to progress a large pipeline of c.10GW of both green and brownfield project developments across global geographies.  More information is available at www.starlight-energy.com

Notes:

1: All financial data is unaudited at 31 March 2024, being the latest date in respect of which NextEnergy Solar Fund has published financial information

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

PFUEASKPFFALEFA