Solar — M&A Activity 2015

Oct 21, 2015

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

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RNS Number : 8756C

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited

21 October 2015

21 October 2015

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited ("NESF")

Three acquisitions with a combined 18.3MWp and an investment value of £22.1 million

-     Acquisition of the operational 11.5MWp North Farm solar power plant in Dorset ("North Farm") for up to £14.5 million

-      Acquisition of the operational 5.0MWp Birch solar power plant in Essex ("Birch") for up to £5.3 million

-   Acquisition of the operational 1.8MWp Thurlestone Leicester rooftop solar power plant portfolio in Leicestershire ("Thurlestone") for up to £2.3 million

-      NESF has now secured 21 assets totalling 253MWp and a total investment value of £296.1 million

NESF is pleased to announce the signing and completion of three separate share purchase agreements, with unrelated counterparties, to acquire special purpose vehicles owning North Farm, Birch and Thurlestone. 

North Farm is a 11.5MWp operating solar power plant that was commissioned in March 2015.  The plant has been accredited under the 1.4 Renewable Obligation Certificate regime.

Birch was constructed under an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract negotiated by NESF's investment advisor, NextEnergy Capital Limited, and has been connected since June 2015.

The Thurlestone portfolio comprises some 700 rooftops in Leicestershire which were connected between November 2012 and June 2013.  Thurlestone is NESF's first acquisition of a rooftop portfolio and the Company expects to expand in this market segment.

Both Birch and Thurlestone receive the Feed-in-Tariff incentive, enabling NESF to diversify the composition of its revenue sources. 

For further information:

NextEnergy Capital Limited	020 3239 9054
Michael Bonte-Friedheim
Aldo Beolchini
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe	020 7894 7667
Sue Inglis
Shore Capital	020 7408 4090
Bidhi Bhoma
Anita Ghanekar
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited	020 3037 2000
Ken Fleming
Nick Stamp
MHP Communications	020 3128 8100
Andrew Leach Jamie Ricketts Gina Bell

Notes to Editors:

NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF)

NESF is a specialist investment company that invests in operating solar power plants in the UK.  Its objective is to secure attractive shareholder returns through RPI-linked dividends and long-term capital growth.  The Company achieves this by acquiring solar power plants on agricultural, industrial and commercial sites.

NESF has raised equity proceeds of £285.6 since its initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in April 2014.  It also has credit facilities amounting to £54.2m in place. 

NESF is differentiated by its access to NextEnergy Capital Group (NEC Group), its Investment Manager, which has a strong track record in sourcing, acquiring and managing operating solar assets.  WiseEnergy is NEC Group's specialist operating asset management division, providing solar asset management, monitoring and other services to over 1,200 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 1.5 GW.

Further information on NESF, NEC Group and WiseEnergy is available at www.nextenergysolarfund.com, www.nextenergycapital.com and www.wise-energy.eu.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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