Phase II of Capital Recycling Programme
I ALEI: 213800ZPHCBDDSQH5447
18 June 2024
NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited
("NESF" or the "Company")
Phase II of Capital Recycling Programme
NextEnergy Solar Fund, a leading specialist investor in solar energy and energy storage, is pleased to announce the completion of the second phase of its Capital Recycling Programme (the "Programme") with the successful sale of Whitecross, a 35.22MW operational solar asset.
Phase II of the Programme:
· Whitecross, located in Lincolnshire, UK, is a 35.22MW utility-scale solar asset that was developed as part of the Company's self-developed project pipeline and energised late last year.
· A third-party buyer, managed by Downing LLP, purchased Whitecross through a competitive sales process.
· The sale of Whitecross raised £27m (the "Transaction").
· The Transaction represents a 1.3x Multiple on Invested Capital, an attractive 14% unlevered IRR, and a 14% premium to the holding value as at 31 March 2024.
· The Transaction is Net Asset Value ("NAV") accretive to shareholders and will generate an estimated uplift of 0.57p which will be reflected in the Company's NAV per share as at 30 June 2024.
· The Investment Manager ("NEC") secured potential for further consideration of £1m payable in the event the project benefits from planned changes to network charging before 31 December 2028, bringing the total transaction value to £28m.
· The total transaction value represents a 1.3x Multiple on Invested Capital, an attractive 15% unlevered IRR, and a 18% premium to the holding value as at 31 March 2024. It would also generate an estimated uplift of 0.70p if reflected in the Company's NAV per share as at 30 June 2024.
Use of proceeds:
· Proceeds from the Transaction will be used to reduce the Company's drawn short-term debt via its Revolving Credit Facilities.
Further updates to the Programme:
The Company has successfully sold c.96MW from its 246MW Programme to date, equivalent to c.10% of the Company's total installed capacity. The remaining 150MW in the Programme continues to progress through a competitive sales process to third-party buyers. The Company will publish further updates about Phase III of the Programme in due course.
|
Subsidy-free solar asset |
Installed Capacity |
Type |
Status |
Price |
NAV uplift |
Premium |
IRR |
|
Hatherden |
60MW |
Ready-to-build |
Sold in Phase I |
£15.2m |
1.27p 1 |
100% |
57% |
|
Whitecross |
35.22MW 2 |
Operational |
Sold in Phase II |
£27.0m 3 |
0.57p 4 |
14% 3 |
14% 3 |
|
The Grange |
50MW |
Operational |
Third-party competitive sales process |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
|
South Lowfield |
50MW |
Operational |
Third-party competitive sales process |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
|
Staughton |
50MW |
Operational |
Third-party competitive sales process |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Footnotes:
(1) Realised in NAV as at 31 December 2023.
(2) Originally included in the Capital Recycling Programme with a 36MW design capacity, 35.22MW is the final installed capacity.
(3) Excluding deferred consideration. Including deferred consideration: Price would be £28m, Premium to holding value would be 18%, and IRR would be 15%.
(4) Estimated uplift which will be reflected in the Company's NAV as at 30 June 2024 excluding deferred consideration. Including deferred consideration, it would generate an estimated uplift of 0.70p if reflected in the Company's NAV per share as at 30 June 2024.
Helen Mahy, Chairwoman of NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited, commented:
"We are pleased with the completion of the Capital Recycling Programme's second phase through the sale of Whitecross, a self-developed solar asset which delivered attractive returns for shareholders with a 14% premium to its holding value.
The Capital Recycling Programme has now successfully sold 96MW of solar assets and the Board remains confident that this transaction alongside further progress in the Capital Recycling Programme will continue to put NextEnergy Solar Fund in an even stronger position to deliver long-term stable returns and value to shareholders into the future."
Ross Grier, Chief Operating Officer and Head of UK Investments at NextEnergy Capital, said:
"NextEnergy Capital have worked tirelessly over the last year to deliver two successful phases of the Company's Capital Recycling Programme at attractive premiums for NextEnergy Solar Fund shareholders. The attractive premium to carrying value for both projects further reinforces our view that the share price discount remains unjustified. The team remains focused on continuing to drive forward the remaining phases of the Capital Recycling Programme to further drive down short-term debt levels and return value to investors."
|
For further information:
NextEnergy Capital Michael Bonte-Friedheim |
020 3746 0700 ir@nextenergysolarfund.com |
|
Ross Grier |
|
|
Stephen Rosser |
|
|
Peter Hamid (Investor Relations)
|
|
|
RBC Capital Markets |
020 7653 4000 |
|
Matthew Coakes |
|
|
Elizabeth Evans Kathryn Deegan
|
|
|
Cavendish |
020 7397 1909 |
|
James King |
|
|
William Talkington
|
|
|
H/Advisors Maitland |
020 7379 5151 |
|
Neil Bennett |
|
|
Finlay Donaldson |
|
|
|
|
|
Ocorian Administration (Guernsey) Limited |
01481 742642 |
|
Kevin Smith |
|
Notes to Editors1:
About NextEnergy Solar Fund
NextEnergy Solar Fund is a specialist solar energy and energy storage investment company that is listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange.
NextEnergy Solar Fund's investment objective is to provide ordinary shareholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns, principally in the form of regular dividends, by investing in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale solar energy and energy storage infrastructure assets. The majority of NESF's long-term cash flows are inflation-linked via UK government subsidies.
As at 31 March 2024, the Company had an unaudited gross asset value of £1,155m. More information is available at www.nextenergysolarfund.com
Article 9 Fund
NextEnergy Solar Fund is classified under Article 9 of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and EU Taxonomy Regulation. NextEnergy Solar Fund's sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector are in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 and can be accessed on the ESG section of both the NextEnergy Solar Fund and NextEnergy Capital websites.
About NextEnergy Group
NextEnergy Solar Fund is managed by NextEnergy Capital, part of the NextEnergy Group. NextEnergy Group was founded in 2007 to become a leading market participant in the international solar sector. Since its inception, it has been active in the development, construction, and ownership of solar assets across multiple jurisdictions. NextEnergy Group operates via its three business units: NextEnergy Capital (Investment Management), WiseEnergy (Operating Asset Management), and Starlight (Asset Development).
· NextEnergy Capital: has over 17 years of specialist solar expertise having invested in over 400 individual solar plants across the world. NextEnergy Capital currently manages four institutional funds with a total capacity in excess of 3GW and has assets under management of $4.3bn. More information is available at www.nextenergycapital.com
· WiseEnergy®: is a leading specialist operating asset manager in the solar sector. Since its founding, WiseEnergy has provided solar asset management, monitoring and technical due diligence services to over 1,500 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 2.5GW. More information is available at www.wise-energy.com
· Starlight: has developed over 100 utility-scale projects internationally and continues to progress a large pipeline of c.10GW of both green and brownfield project developments across global geographies. More information is available at www.starlight-energy.com
Notes:
1: All financial data is unaudited at 31 March 2024, being the latest date in respect of which NextEnergy Solar Fund has published financial information
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