Private equity firm AtmosClear Investments has acquired a fully operational 6.4 MW rooftop solar portfolio.
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure (FGEN), a listed investment company and part of the Foresight Group, has this morning (December 10) announced the sale of 100% of its operational rooftop solar portfolio for a total consideration of £21.2 million. £20.5 million is payable on completion, with a further £0.7 million deferred in connection with the fulfillment of post-completion obligations.
The portfolio includes 1,016 residential and 66 commercial ground and rooftop solar assets, totaling 6.40 MW across 1,082 properties in England, Scotland and Wales.
FGEN acquired the solar assets in 2015. Because it is the company’s only solar rooftop investment, it is considered non-core to the broader FGEN portfolio. This is FGEN’s second divestment this year, following the sale of its interests in a portfolio of anaerobic digestion assets in August.
FGEN said the sale refines the portfolio, recognizes a premium to net asset value (NAV) and recycles capital from a lower-yielding part of the portfolio towards further deleveraging, in line with the company’s capital allocation policy.
Following the sale, FGEN’s solar portfolio will consist of eleven ground-mounted solar farms across five investments in England and Wales, representing approximately 13% of the FGEN portfolio by value.
Ed Warner, chairman of FGEN, said the company was pleased with the sales agreement which “provided [it] with substantial resources from a non-core activity with low returns”.
Graham Bell, CEO of AtmosClear Investments, explained that all acquired assets benefit from Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) which provide inflation-linked, government-guaranteed income for the next twelve years. As such, Atmosclear’s total portfolio of solar assets with FiTs has reached just over 22 MW.
This consists of 7,236 rooftop homes with a further 19 MW from 61 ground-mounted solar farms.
Bell added: “Our portfolio is actively managed in-house from our UK operations center in Crowborough. Our highly experienced and specialist team work with homeowners and housing associations to ensure our customers have a worry-free experience and maximize the energy savings from the solar panels on their properties.
“We are expanding and evaluating store-and-forward batteries, heat pumps and chargers for electric vehicles and continue to look for opportunities to add value to our portfolio and customer installations. It was a pleasure working with Foresight Group on this transaction.”
