Bluefield Solar Income Fund has announced that it has made its tenth major acquisition, dipping into its RBS credit facility for the first time. It is buying a new plant in Hertfordshire, being constructed by Solarcentury, that will, when complete, generate up to 17.5MW. The acquisition price is £19m. The plant will qualify for government subsidy at the rate of 1.4 under the Renewable Obligation Certificate (“ROC”) regime. They have not said when the plant will be operational.
After this deal, Bluefield Solar Income Fund will have made ten purchases of solar plants capable of generating 128MW. They used all the equity capital they raised to pay for the ninth deal but, after this deal they will have more headroom under their RBS facility to make more acquisitions. The three-year £50m facility carries a margin of 225 bp over LIBOR and has a maximum loan to net assets ratio of 35%.
Bluefield Solar Income Fund has also confirmed that it expects to deliver its target dividend of 4p for its first financial year (ending 30 June 2014) and 7p for the year after that (rising annually in line with RPI thereafter).