Aquila European Renewables Income makes first acquisitions – Following its launch in May (raising €154.3m), Aquila European Renewables Income (AERI) has closed on its first project acquisitions. The company has this morning announced it has bought a hydro portfolio in Portugal and a wind farm in Denmark for a combined value 26.4% of the IPO proceeds.
Specifically, AERI has acquired 17.99% of the share capital of Aguia Enlica Lda (Aguia) based in Portugal, and 100% of the shares in Danish company Holmen Wind Park II Aps. Aguia is a hydro power company.
The investments represent part of the pipeline disclosed in the May 2019 prospectus; they provide AERI with participation in an operational power plant portfolio with a long operating history.
Aguia – Portuguese hydro
Aguia is a holding company whose directly and indirectly wholly owned subsidiaries hold and operate a portfolio of twenty-one operational small hydropower plants with a capacity of around 103 MW and an expected total annual production of approximately 312 GWh in northern and central Portugal. At present, approximately 75% of production is covered by a long-term feed-in tariff (FiT), which gradually expires for the individual power plants. The capital committed in the acquisition amounts to close to 11% of the proceeds raised through AERI’s IPO.
Holmen II – Danish wind farm
Holmen II is an onshore wind farm located on the west coast of Denmark with 18 MW of installed capacity. The investment comprises five Vestas V126 turbines, of 3.60 MW each, in a location with excellent wind resources, which yields a capacity factor of 43% and a P50 annual production of c. 68.54 GWh.
AERI notes in the press release that the plant benefits from a Danish Premium tariff (the feed-in premium is structured as a contract for difference) for a fixed volume of production, which will last until 2025. The capital committed in the acquisition amounts to about 15.5% of the proceeds raised through AERI’s IPO.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Christine Brockwell, senior investment manager at Aquila Capital, the investment adviser: “Completing these acquisitions means, that 26.4% of the proceeds raised from the IPO are now invested across a high quality, diversified portfolio of renewable energy generation technologies and geographies.”
About AERI
AERI 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.
AERI: Aquila European Renewables Income makes first acquisitions