Foresight Solar acquires 11 solar assets- Foresight Solar Fund Limited has announced today that they have acquired 11 operational solar assets which have a total combined capacity of 80.9 MW. They have purchased these assets for £33.1 million, including economic benefit of all cashflow from 1 April 2018. As previously reported on, Foresight is using the funds acquired from the equity issue of approximately £58 million, that was completed in October 2018, to fund their most recent acquisition. The remaining proceeds will be used to reduce gearing and pay back some of the existing bank facilities. All of the assets in the portfolio are accredited under the ROC scheme, receiving 1.4 to 1.3 ROCs/MWh. All the assets have been in operation for at least two years and have been managed by Foresight Group’s in-house asset management team who will continue to manage the assets once purchased. The new portfolio currently has a debt facility in place totalling £69.8 million, majority of which is funded by NatWest. Foresight plans to refinance the new acquisition along with existing assets funded by revolving credit facilities. Once completed the most recent acquisition will bring Foresight’s total capacity to 869 MW across 54 solar assets, this the company believes will help diversify their portfolio and enhance their operational efficiencies.
The portfolio consists of the following assets:
Bull’s Head (Milton Keynes, 5.3MW), commissioned in October 2014 and received ROC accreditation of 1.4ROCs/MWh
Bilsthorpe (Nottinghamshire, 5.7MW), commissioned in November 2014 and received ROC accreditation of 1.4ROCs/MWh
Roskrow (Cornwall, 8.9MW), commissioned in March 2015 and received ROC accreditation of 1.4ROCs/MWh
Nowhere (Lincolnshire, 8.1MW), commissioned in March 2015 and received ROC accreditation of 1.4ROCs/MWh
Ash Farm (Shropshire, 8.4MW), commissioned in March 2015 and received ROC accreditation of 1.4ROCs/MWh
Pen & Cae (Carmarthenshire, 6.8MW), commissioned in March 2015 and received ROC accreditation of 1.4ROCs/MWh
PS Manor Farm (Bedfordshire, 14.2MW), commissioned in October 2015 and received ROC accreditation of 1.3ROCs/MWh
Playters (Suffolk, 8.6MW), commissioned in October 2015 and received ROC accreditation of 1.3ROCs/MWh
Lindridge (Leicestershire, 4.9MW), commissioned in March 2016 and received ROC accreditation of 1.3ROCs/MWh
Abbey Fields (Kent, 4.9MW), commissioned in March 2016 and received ROC accreditation of 1.3ROCs/MWh
Mission (South Yorkshire, 5.0MW), commissioned in March 2016 and received ROC accreditation of 1.3ROCs/MWh
Alex Ohlsson, chairman of Foresight, had this to say about the most recent acquisition: “We are pleased to complete this acquisition, rounding off what has been a busy year both for Foresight Solar and for the UK renewables market as a whole. This acquisition further strengthens our position as the largest UK-listed dedicated solar energy investment company by installed capacity and enhances the diversification of our asset portfolio and ability to drive economies of scale. Whilst we do not expect our high volume of activity in the UK secondary market to continue at the same rate in 2019, as previously noted, we are pleased to complete another NAV-accretive acquisition that demonstrates our ability to secure attractive opportunities.”
FSFL- Foresight Solar acquires 11 solar assets