Ardian co-invests with Solarpack into two solar projects in Peru

Solarpack Corporación Tecnológica, S.A. has signed an agreement with Ardian for its entry in the share capital of the solar projects Tacna Solar and Panamericana Solar. Solarpack will keep a controlling ownership in the projects, and Ardian invests in a 49% stake with a revenue recurrence that has been demonstrated since the commissioning of the solar plants at the end of 2012.

Solarpack agreed to purchase 90.5% of the projects last May, when Tawa Solar Fund LP and its partners sold their shares in the projects to Solarpack for US$51.5 million. Solarpack has since prepared an industrial plan for repowering the solar plants and reorganizing the operation and maintenance activities in the projects.

It is expected that the closing of the sale to Ardian of 49% in the projects will take place during the first quarter of 2020, after the effective implementation of the above mentioned industrial plan. At that time, Ardian will disburse the purchase price, which will allow Solarpack to repay the US$30 million bridge loan. In addition to the loan repayment, excess free cash will be generated by Solarpack as a result of the value creation related to the industrial plan and the performance of the asset between the acquisition in May and the closing with Ardian. The final purchase price will be determined after customary adjustments in this type of transactions, such as the operating result of the projects until the end of 2019.

The projects, which were developed and built by Solarpack in 2012 in association with Gestamp Asetym Solar (now X-ELIO), are located in southern Peru and have a total combined installed capacity of 43 MW. Both projects have a long-term power purchase agreement in place with the Peruvian Ministry of Energy, as a result of the first renewable energy resources tender held in Peru in 2010, and have more than 13 years of remaining contractual life under their respective PPAs.