Foresight Solar Fund has acquired a portfolio of 15 operational solar projects in the UK with a installed capacity of 114MW for a consideration of £47m.
Image: Foresight Solar acquires 114MW solar portfolio in UK. Photo: Courtesy of RK008/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Foresight Solar Fund is planning to fund the acquisition from the net proceeds of the oversubscribed fund raised of about £48.1m, this July. Following this transaction, the company’s total installed capacity will increase to 788MW across 43 solar assets.
The firm stated that this transaction is a lower risk and cost-efficient acquisition for it as the portfolio was previously owned by the funds managed by Foresight Group. All the acquired assets have been operating for a minimum of two years and were managed by the company’s in-house asset management team.
The solar farms acquired by the company include a 10.6MW Trehawke solar farm in Cornwall, a 13.2MW Homeland solar farm in Dorset, a 10.0MW Steventon solar farm in Oxfordshire, a 11.3MW Welbeck solar farm in Nottinghamshire, and a8.1MW Yarburgh solar farm in Lincolnshire, among others.
Foresight Solar chairman Alex Ohlsson said: “This is both a strategic and a significant acquisition for the Company, which sees us become the largest UK-listed dedicated solar energy investment company by installed capacity.
“The acquisition will be NAV-accretive and will further underpin our sustainable, long-term dividend policy. We are pleased to be delivering against our focused acquisition strategy and in accordance with the expected timetable.”
In October 2017, Foresight Solar Fund had entered into binding contracts with Canadian Solar to acquire three construction stage assets in Queensland, Australia, representing 117MW of peak capacity once installed.
The assets are the 17MW Longreach Solar Farm, the 30MW Oakey 1 Solar Farm and the 70MW Oakey 2 Solar Farm. Longreach and Oakey 1 have entered into 20-year fixed-price offtake agreements with the Queensland Government for the sale of 100% of the electricity generated.