Acquisition of French Solar PV Assets

RNS Number : 6763U

Octopus Renewables Infra Trust PLC

31 July 2020

 

31 July 2020

LEI: 213800B81BFJKWM2JV13

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc

("ORIT" or the "Company")

Acquisition of French Solar PV Assets

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc is pleased to announce that it has signed a Share Purchase Agreement ("SPA") for the acquisition of a 100% interest in a portfolio of operational solar PV assets located across France for a cash consideration of €58.9m (£53.4m).

The portfolio consists of 14 fully operational solar PV assets with a total installed capacity of 119.5MW which all benefit from feed-in-tariffs ("FiT") under the French 2011 Tariff Order and 2011 Call for Tenders regimes for 100% of their output. The assets began operating between 2013 and 2015 and, at the time of signing, have an average of 12.7 years remaining under the FiT contracts and an average remaining life of 27.3 years. The portfolio, which has €99m of existing project finance from Hamburg Commercial Bank,   is being acquired from one of the renewable funds that Samsung Securities has invested in and a minority investor. The Company will receive the economic benefit of all cash flows from the portfolio from 1 January 2020.

Site Name	Capacity (MW)	Location
Charleval	6.2	Bouches-du-Rhône
Cuges-les-Pins	7.3	Bouches-du-Rhône
Istres	7.9	Bouches-du-Rhône
LaVerdière	6.3	Var
Brignoles	4.6	Var
Saint-Antonin-du-Var	7.8	Var
Chalmoux	10.0	Saône et Loire
IOVI 1	6.2	Var
IOVI 3	5.5	Var
Fontienne	10.4	Alpes de Haute Provence
Ollières 1	12.0	Var
Ollières 2	11.4	Var
Arsac 2	12.0	Gironde
Arsac 5	12.0	Gironde
Total	119.5

Phil Austin, Chairman of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc, commented:

"I am delighted to announce the acquisition of this portfolio of subsidised French solar farms, expected to produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 48,000 French homes annually. With this acquisition we have now committed c. 75% of the funds raised at IPO and have opened up a third market for ORIT, marking a further step towards building a diversified portfolio of renewable energy assets. It is particularly pleasing that the Octopus Renewables team have been able to continue originating and transacting on high quality deal flow throughout the COVID crisis."

Chris Gaydon, Investment Director at Octopus Renewables, commented:

"As one of the UK and Europe's leading investors in renewables, Octopus Renewables has long considered the French market as having favourable conditions for growth and investment. Octopus Renewables already has a strong presence in France and so we're delighted to be able to secure this acquisition for ORIT. It builds on our ambition to accelerate the clean energy transition and create a legacy for the next generation to mitigate the effects of climate change."

For further information please contact:

Octopus Investments Limited (Investment Manager) Matt Setchell, Chris Gaydon	Via Buchanan
Peel Hunt (Broker) Liz Yong, Luke Simpson, Tom Pocock (Corporate Broking) Alex Howe, Chris Bunstead, Ed Welsby (Sales)	020 7418 8900
Buchanan (Financial PR) Charles Ryland, Kelsey Traynor, Hannah Ratcliff	020 7466 5000
PraxisIFM ( Company Secretary ) Brian Smith, Tom Daish	020 4513 9260

Notes to editors

About Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc is a closed end investment company incorporated in England and Wales focused on providing investors with an attractive and sustainable level of income returns, with an element of capital growth, by investing in a diversified portfolio of renewable energy assets in Europe and Australia. Octopus Investments Limited acts as the Investment Manager to the Company.

Further details can be found at www.octopusrenewablesinfrastructure.com

About Octopus Renewables

Octopus Renewables, part of Octopus Investments and the wider Octopus Group, is a specialist clean energy investment manager with a mission to accelerate the transition to a future powered by renewable energy. Since 2010, Octopus Renewables has, on behalf of its clients, invested in a diverse portfolio of assets with a capacity of over 2.6GW and is now the largest commercial solar investor in Europe and a leading UK investor in onshore wind. Octopus Renewables is co-led by Matt Setchell and Alex Brierley and has over 70 employees in the UK and Australia.

Further details can be found at www.octopusrenewables.com

Neither the content of any website referred to in this announcement nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

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