Disposal of rooftop solar portfolio

Foresight Environmental Infrastruct

10 December 2024

 

FORESIGHT ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED

("FGEN" or the "Company")

Disposal of rooftop solar portfolio

FGEN, a leading listed investment company with a diversified portfolio of environmental infrastructure assets across the UK and mainland Europe, is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale of 100% of its portfolio of operational rooftop solar assets (the "Rooftop Portfolio") to AtmosClear Investments for a total consideration of £21.2 million (the "Disposal"). A total of £20.5 million is payable upon completion ("Initial Proceeds"), with a further £0.7 million in deferred consideration linked to the satisfaction of certain post-completion obligations ("Deferred Consideration"). The Initial Proceeds represent a modest premium to the valuation as at 30 September 2024 with the potential for further upside from the Deferred Consideration. 

The Rooftop Portfolio comprises a portfolio of over 1,000 fully operational domestic rooftop, commercial rooftop and ground-mounted solar installations distributed across England, Scotland and Wales, and was acquired by FGEN in 2015. It is FGEN's only solar rooftop investment and considered to be non-core to the wider FGEN portfolio.

The Disposal refines the portfolio, recognises a premium to NAV, and recycles capital from a lower returning part of the portfolio into a further reduction of debt in line with the Company's Capital Allocation policy.

The disposal crystallises an IRR of 4.2% and a multiple on invested capital (MOIC) of 1.3x. It is the Company's second divestment this year after the sale of interests in a portfolio of anaerobic digestion assets in August 2024 (10.9% IRR, 1.7x MOIC).

Following the Disposal, FGEN's solar exposure will consist of 11 ground-mounted solar parks across 5 investments in England and Wales which make up approximately 13% of the FGEN portfolio by value.

Ed Warner, Chair of FGEN, said:

"We are pleased with this sales agreement which has provided us with substantial funds from a non-core, low yielding asset. Capital allocation remains a key priority for the Board and proceeds will be used to strengthen our balance sheet through a further reduction in debt."

For further information and enquiries, please contact:

Foresight Group Chris Tanner Edward Mountney  Charlie Wright     Wilna de Villiers	[phone] [e-mail]
Winterflood Securities Limited Neil Langford	[phone]
SEC Newgate Elisabeth Cowell Alice Cho Harry Handyside	[phone] [e-mail]
Apex Fund and Corporate Services (Guernsey) Limited Matt Lihou Matt Falla	[phone] [e-mail]

About FGEN

FGEN's investment policy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of Environmental Infrastructure. Environmental Infrastructure is defined by the Company as infrastructure assets, projects and asset-backed businesses that utilise natural or waste resources or support more environmentally friendly approaches to economic activity, support the transition to a low carbon economy or which mitigate the effects of climate change. Such investments will typically feature one or more of the following characteristics:

· long-term, predictable cash flows, which may be wholly or partially inflation-linked cash flows;

· long-term contracts or stable and well-proven regulatory and legal frameworks; or

· well-established technologies, and demonstrable operational performance.

FGEN's aim is to provide investors with a sustainable, progressive dividend per share, paid quarterly and to preserve the capital value of the portfolio over the long term on a real basis. The target dividend for the year to 31 March 2025 is 7.80 pence per share¹. 

FGEN is an Article 9 fund under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and has a transparent and award winning approach to ESG.

Further details can be found on FGEN's website www.fgen.com and LinkedIn page.

LEI: 213800JWJN54TFBMBI68

(1) These are targets only and not profit forecasts.  There can be no assurance that these targets will be met or that the Company will make any distributions at all.

 

END