Press release :: 23 January 2018
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) announces that it has completed a further clean energy infrastructure investment to fund the acquisition of a 500kW wind turbine located in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales from the original project developers.
SEP made the investment in Merthyr Renewable Energy Limited through its Environmental Capital Fund (ECF) which is targeted at infrastructure projects in the energy sector. The acquisition of the turbine was completed on an all-equity basis without project finance debt, enabling an expeditious deal process. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The investment completed in late December.
The tier one turbine, manufactured by Netherlands based Emergya Wind Technologies (EWT), has been operational since December 2013 and benefits from a 20-year index linked, fixed price, feed in tariff (of which 16 years remain) covering 100% of its revenue. Operations and maintenance of the turbine will continue to be undertaken by EWT under a long-term full scope basis. The Merthyr deal was led by Peter Bachmann, Director, and Verena Rathgeber, Principal, both of SEP’s infrastructure team.
This transaction is the third wind investment to be completed by SEP’s infrastructure team over the last six months and follows equity funding for the construction of the €8.7 million, 4.6MW Curraghderrig wind farm in the Republic of Ireland and the acquisition by ECF of the 9.2MW Port of Tilbury windfarm from SSE plc.
Peter Bachmann, Director of SEP’s infrastructure team said: “Merthyr represents an attractive standalone investment for ECF and we are hopeful that the deal will also act as a catalyst for further acquisitions of EWT or other tier one, single wind turbines across the UK and Ireland. EWT has over 400 turbines installed in the UK and we are delighted to have added this high quality direct drive turbine to our portfolio of wind assets.”
Dylan Jones, Director who led the sales process on behalf of the original project owners said: “We are pleased to have been able to realise the value from our development efforts on this turbine which started in 2011. The infrastructure team at SEP have been great to work with and were professional and diligent throughout.”
Eco2, a specialist in operational and financial management of wind assets across the UK, has been appointed as asset manager for the Merthyr turbine and will work alongside SEP’s in-house infrastructure asset management team.
Darren Williams, Managing Director of Eco2 said: “We are delighted to be appointed by SEP and welcome the opportunity to increase our existing portfolio of assets under management, which includes wind and biomass projects. We are looking forward to building a successful working relationship with SEP”.
ENDS
Image: Peter Bachmann, Director of SEP’s infrastructure team
Image: Merthyr logo
About Scottish Equity Partners
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) is a leading UK late stage venture and growth equity firm, specialising in investments in innovative, high growth technology companies.
SEP has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, and manages primary and secondary funds backed by global financial institutions, pension funds and corporates. This includes the Environmental Capital Fund (ECF), an infrastructure investment fund targeted at small-scale, UK and Ireland based, clean energy infrastructure projects - including energy efficiency, biomass, small-wind, CHP and district heating schemes. The fund is backed by a syndicate of financial investors led by Lexington Partners, the world's largest independent manager of secondary private equity and co-investment funds. SEP raised £135m for ECF and the fund was launched in September 2014.
For further information see: www.sep.co.uk
Note
Advisers to ECF on the Merthyr acquisition include:
Legal: Pinsent Masons
Technical: TUV SUD
Tax & accounting: BDO
About Eco2
Eco2 is one of the leading renewable energy companies that specialises in initiating, developing, financing and operating renewable energy projects. Since its set up in 2002, Eco2 has been at the forefront of renewable energy development and asset management across the UK and Europe. Eco2 has developed a portfolio of over 280MW of installed capacity and around £1.1 billion of investment funds raised.