GIP acquires Partners Group's stake in 610 MW of Japanese solar power assets

Partners Group has sold its stake in Japan Solar, a 610 MW platform of Japanese solar power assets. The stake was sold to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), generating a blended gross return of 3.2x on the original investment for Partners Group's programs.

Partners Group invested alongside Equis Group to acquire its initial stake in Japan Solar in 2013, shortly after the Japanese government introduced a Feed-in Tariff to encourage investment in the renewable energy sector. Partners Group and others invested an initial US$250 million to fund the construction of utility-scale power plants across the country. Japan Solar partnered with Nippon Renewable Energy to support the build-out of the platform. Partners Group made a further equity investment into Japan Solar during the holding period, making it the largest shareholder in the platform.

At the time the sale to GIP was agreed, Japan Solar consisted of 27 secured projects totaling more than 610 MW of capacity, of which over 200 MW was operational and contracted into long-term power purchase agreements with Japanese electric utility companies. It is estimated that once Japan Solar's secured projects become operational, they will generate enough energy to power around 133,000 households.

Benjamin Haan, Partner, Head of Private Infrastructure Asia, Partners Group, comments:

"Japan Solar was a timely project and we are delighted to have contributed to the build-out of Japan's renewable energy production capacity. The successful sale of our stake in Japan Solar ahead of our original exit timeline provides an attractive return to our clients and endorses our strategy of platform-building in markets supported by transformative trends."

The sale of its holding in Japan Solar is Partners Group's third announced infrastructure exit this month on behalf of its clients. Earlier in January, we reported that Partners Group announced it had agreed to sell its ownership stake in Silicon Ranch Corporation, a developer, owner and operator of solar energy facilities in the US, to Shell. As we reported in our PPP market intelligence platform (www.InfraPPPWorld.com) the firm also sold its ownership stake in the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, a cancer research, treatment and education center in Melbourne, Australia, to AMP Capital's Community Infrastructure Fund.

We have recently reported about several solar projects in Japan:

• 480 MW solar PV project on Ukujima island
• 19.05 MWp Gunma Aramaki Solar Power Plant in Gunma Prefecture
• 16.6 MW solar PV project in Tochigi prefecture
• 8.4 MW Seibu Takeyama solar power station in Yokosuka
• 2.44 MW Iwate Ichinoseki solar park in Iwate prefecture
• 1.963 MW CS Tsuyama-shi solar park in Okayama
• 0.636 MW CS Koriyama-shi solar park in Fukushima