Acquisitions

RNS Number : 9377E

Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited

16 February 2015

 



16 February 2015

BLUEFIELD SOLAR INCOME FUND LIMITED

Three Further Acquisitions

Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into binding contracts to acquire three UK-based, large scale solar plants. The three assets include a 6.5MWp plant in Somerset, a 12.5MWp plant in Wiltshire, and a 29MWp plant in Oxfordshire. They are being acquired for a total consideration of £54 million, including transaction costs and working capital.  Each is expected to qualify under the 1.4 Renewable Obligation Certificate ("ROC") regime. 

The acquisitions are the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth made by the Company and will be funded by part of the £131 million raised pursuant to the placing programme that closed in November 2014.

The Company can confirm that it expects to deliver against a target dividend of 7 pence per ordinary share in respect of the Company's current financial year, which ends on 30 June 2015, with the intention of this rising annually with RPI thereafter. On 3 November 2014 the Company declared an interim dividend for the current financial period of 3.25 pence per ordinary share.

As announced on Friday, 13 February, the Company will be announcing its Interim Results on Friday, 27 February 2015. 

A conference call presentation with Analysts will take place at 9:30am on Friday, 27 February 2015. The presentation will be hosted by James Armstrong and Mike Rand of Bluefield Partners LLP, the Investment Adviser to the Company. A PowerPoint presentation will be provided separately in advance of the call.

To register for the call, please contact the Company's PR Agent CNC, by either email to [e-mail]  or by telephone on [phone]/ [phone].

Additionally, the Investment Adviser will be organising a Bluefield Solar Income Fund 'Revenue Workshop' in March in order to analyse revenues and costs of a typical UK solar farm.  Details to be provided nearer the time.

Enquiries:

James Armstrong / Mike Rand / Giovanni Terranova

Bluefield Partners LLP - Company Investment Adviser

Tel: [phone]

Tod Davis / David Benda

Numis Securities Limited - Company Broker

Tel: [phone]

Kevin Smith

Heritage International Fund Managers Limited - Company Secretary & Administrator

Tel: [phone]

Tom Karim

CNC

Tel: [phone]

Note to editors

About Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited (BSIF)

BSIF is a Guernsey-registered investment company focusing on large scale agricultural and industrial solar assets. It raised gross proceeds of £130 million in July 2013 through an initial public offering of shares on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It raised a further £13 million in February 2014 in an oversubscribed placement. Pursuant to a placing programme in November 2014 the Company raised an additional £131 million. In June 2014 it agreed a three-year revolving credit facility with Royal Bank of Scotland, for up to £50 million.

BSIF seeks to provide shareholders with an attractive return, principally in the form of income distributions, by investing in a diversified portfolio of solar energy assets, each located within the UK, with a focus on utility scale assets and portfolios on greenfield, industrial and/or commercial sites.  To date, dividends have been paid semi-annually, but the Company has announced that in 2015 it intends to move to quarterly distributions.

About Bluefield Partners LLP (Bluefield)

Bluefield was established in 2009 and is an investment adviser to companies and funds investing in solar energy infrastructure. It has a proven record in the selection, acquisition and supervision of large scale energy and infrastructure assets in the UK and Europe. The team has been involved in over £600m of solar photovoltaic ("PV") funds and/or transactions in both the UK and Europe since 2008, including over £380m in the UK since December 2011.

Bluefield has led the acquisitions, and currently advises on over 50 UK based solar assets that are agriculturally, commercially or industrially situated. Based in its London office, Bluefield's partners are supported by a dedicated and highly experienced team of investment, legal and portfolio executives. 

Bluefield was appointed Investment Adviser to the Company in June 2013.

 

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