The deal was done through the company's subsidiary, Tesseract Holdings, and concerns a project which consists of two wind farms with total capacity of about 40 MW.
The price is not clear, it was simply noted that for the acquisition of the wind farm in Desfina and the 50 MW photovoltaic of the Spanish Albeniz announced on 23 December 2020, 88 million euros were spent from the total of 127.5 million raised by the fund last October.
The Desfina project
The Desfinas wind farm in Desfinas, in the Municipality of Delphi, in the Prefecture of Fokida is one of the largest wind farms in the country. It is a €150 million investment by AirEnergy on behalf of Enercon, through Vector Aeoliki Desfinas S.A. and Vector Aeoliki South Desfinas S.A. It has a total capacity of 82.25 MW and includes 35 wind turbines. For its construction, a network of rural roads with a total length of about 60 km was constructed or improved.
The characteristics and objectives of the fund
According to Aquila, the project is supported by an attractive, 20-year, Feed-in Premium for 100% of production and includes an existing 15-year term loan (15-year) of EUR 41.5 million, which is part of the deal. Desfina is expected to have a 25-year lifespan. The project will save over 16,000 tonnes of CO2 per year and about 400,000 tonnes over the expected lifetime of the wind turbine.
The fund's target is to yield 6%-7.5% per annum over a period of at least 25 years, offering shareholders dividends on a quarterly basis.
Southern Europe
In recent months, the fund has focused its interest on renewable energy acquisitions in Southern Europe, as prior to the latest investments in Greece and Spain, it was preceded last autumn by the acquisition of the first photovoltaic plant in Portugal, with a capacity of 20 MW for a price of EUR 16 million.
Earlier, at the beginning of June, it had proceeded the acquisition of 14% of the Norwegian wind farm (Rock) which is currently under construction, with a total capacity of 400 MW and is expected to be completed within the second quarter of 2021.
The key persons
Ian Nolan, chairman of the fund, was selected a decade ago by the UK government to set up the UK Green Investment Bank, where he held the position of Chief Investment Officer until 2014. He was previously head of investment at 3i PLC and a director at Telecity Group plc.
However, the head of management is Christine Brockwell, Head of Partnerships & Portfolio Management at Aquila Capital, who is responsible for the expansion and development of European energy projects. Prior to joining Aquila Capital in 2018, she had been with Global Capital Finance and the UK Green Investment Bank, the world's first green bank. Under her tenure, UK GIB had committed £550m to invest in offshore wind farms.
Joining her in the energy portfolio for the EMEA region is Michael Anderson, with key passages in financial sector positions specialising in M&A at Transurban Group and previously at Greenhill, an independent investment bank.
