Investment Update

RNS Number : 0208O

Aquila European Renewables Income

27 September 2019

 

                                                                                                              September 27^th, 2019

Aquila European Renewables Income Fund enters into an exclusive agreement to acquire a Finnish wind farm

Aquila European Renewables Income Fund ("AERIF" or the "Company") the London-listed investment company advised by Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft mbh ("Aquila") has today announced that it intends to acquire Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy a Finish wind farm company. The planned acquisition completes the fourth investment since the successful Initial Public Offering ("IPO") on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019. The Company had initially secured the exclusive right to acquire Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy by entering into a short-term financing agreement as announced on August 5^th, 2019. With this transaction it will now acquire all shares of Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy.

The final consideration will amount to approximately 16% of the proceeds raised from the recent IPO. In line with management expectations the overall investment ratio of the Company now sums up to approximately 55.6% of the proceeds raised from the IPO.

Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy holds the li Olhava (Olhava) wind farm and its extension, li Olhava Extension (Olhava Ext), approximately 50km north of the city of Oulu with an installed capacity of 34.55 MW and an expected production of 99.2 GWh p.a. based on historical production values. The park comprises eight Vestas V112 and three Vestas V126 turbines with capacities between 3.1 and 3.3 MW.

The wind parks qualify for the Finnish feed-in tariff ("FiT") support scheme. This FiT is structured as a contract-for-difference (CfD). Project Olhava is eligible for the CfD premium for approximately five more years until mid to late 2024. The 9.9 MW Olhava Ext. is eligible for approximately six more years until September 2025. The parks are also eligible for guarantees of origin (GoO) certificates. Each wind park receives one GoO per produced MWh. It is expected to enter into a GoO purchase agreement (GPA) for up to five years to further hedge the market price exposure.

Looking ahead, Aquila intends to conclude power purchase agreements ("PPAs") as soon as market conditions and hedging solutions are feasible and considered as attractive from a risk-adjusted point of view.Ian Nolan, Chairman, of the Company said: "The Board is pleased to see that the strategically important acquisition of Olhava has now been completed."

Commenting on today's announcement, Christine Brockwell, Senior Investment Manager at Aquila, the investment advisor: "Geographic diversification is one of the key pillars that the Company uses to balance its portfolio. With this latest investment, the Company is now diversified across four different countries into attractive income yielding investments."

* All percentages stated are based on EUR 154.3 million proceeds raised from the initial IPO, all percentages are subject to rounding. Source: Aquila Capital calculations September 2019.

For further details contact:

Media contacts:

Smithfield Consultants

Ged Brumby | 020 7903 2527

John Kiely 38

Andrew McLagan | 020 3047 2006

Sponsor, Broker and Placing Agent

Numis Securities 020 7260 1000

Tod Davis

David Benda

Vicki Paine

NOTES

Aquila European Renewables Income Fund ("AERIF" or the "Company") is a recently established, London-listed renewable energy infrastructure investment company with the aim to provide investors with an attractive long-term, income-based return in EUR through a diversified portfolio of hydropower, onshore wind and solar PV investments across continental Europe and Ireland. Through the diversification of generation technologies, the seasonal production patterns of these asset types complete each other to balance the cash flow, while the geographic diversification serves to reduce exposure to one single energy market. AERIF is targeting an aggregate annual yield of 5.0% once fully invested.

Further details can be found on AERIF 's website at www.aquila-european-renewables-income-fund.com 

 

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