Greencoat Capital launches solar fund and acquires projects

Greencoat Capital, a renewable investment management firm, has announced the launch of its first solar vehicle, Greencoat Solar I LP. Greencoat's assets under management are now over £1.5 billion (US$1.9 billion).

The announcement represents the first move into solar infrastructure investment for Greencoat Capital, whose other funds include a €200 million (US$209 million) private equity fund and the £880 million (US$1.1 billion) FTSE250 listed infrastructure fund, Greencoat UK Wind PLC.

Richard Nourse, Managing Partner, Greencoat Capital said:

"We have seen, and continue to see, enormous support for the Greencoat UK Wind fund. It has consistently been the best performing stock in the listed renewable infrastructure sector - a sector which was born on the back of our fund's success.

For some time we have known that there was a similar demand to apply Greencoat's expertise in the unlisted sector, and we are delighted with today's announcement. Through our dedicated solar team we look forward to delivering the reliable returns that investors expect."

Greencoat also announced the successful closing of Greencoat Solar I's first asset acquisitions:

A portfolio of three PV farms from BayWa r.e. totalling 30MW in capacity; A portfolio of six PV farms from Primrose Solar, totalling 78MW in capacity.

Greencoat Solar I is seeking to acquire an additional 150MW of assets over the next six months.

Lee Moscovitch, Partner, Greencoat Solar said:

"We're very excited to have begun investing in the solar market, having built strong relationships with developers across the sector. The fragmented nature of the UK's solar capacity offers a great opportunity for low-risk investment - through operational excellence, alongside prudent acquisitions, we expect to deliver our investors predictable, inflation linked secure income.

Greencoat Capital sees a significant opportunity in solar PV with a potential market value of over £20 billion and anticipates managing further investments from a range of investors, especially pension funds seeking liability matching cash flows."