Foresight Solar buys portfolio of three Andalusian assets

Solar photovoltaic asset investor Foresight Solar announced the acquisition of a portfolio of three greenfield solar assets in Spain on Monday.

The FTSE 250 company said the 98.5 MW portfolio consisted of three subsidy-free assets in the Andalusia region of the country.

It said total expected transaction costs were expected to amount to €72m (£64.59m) once construction was complete, and included the acquisition of development rights for around €15m.

Construction was expected to begin in the summer, with operations targeted to start in June 2022.

The acquisition followed Foresight Solar's acquisition of the 26.1 MW Virgen del Carmen asset in Huelva, Spain in September - its first acquisition in the territory.

Foresight said the acquisition of the development rights for the assets in Andalusia had been funded using the company's revolving credit facilities.

The board said it was the firm’s current intention to introduce a conservative level of project finance at portfolio level to partially fund construction milestones, with the remaining funding being provided by its existing revolving credit facilities.

Its total gearing and long-term gearing as a percentage of gross asset value would remain within the investment policy limits following the acquisition.

It was expected that a long-term power purchase agreement would shortly be signed with a “major” European energy supplier, securing an “attractive” level of contracted revenues.

The company said it would implement a 10-year rolling euro-sterling foreign currency hedging strategy covering the future cash flows generated by the asset, to “substantially eliminate” currency fluctuation exposure on returns.

Foresight Solar said it had been able to leverage the “significant” regional expertise of its investment manager Foresight Group, which through its offices located in Madrid would be managing a portfolio of more than 200MW of subsidy-free renewable assets in Spain when including the Andalusia portfolio.

Following the acquisition, the company's portfolio comprised 58 assets, based in the UK, Australia and Spain, with an installed capacity of 994 MW once fully operational.

The company's investments outside the UK would represent about 17% of the gross asset value of the firm and its subsidiaries.

“This acquisition builds on the company's recent first investment in Spain and represents a meaningful step forward for the company's international diversification and its increased presence in the subsidy-free solar market,” said chairman Alex Ohlsson.

“The ability of the Investment Manager to secure such an attractive investment opportunity for Foresight Solar once again demonstrates the benefit of its significant regional presence across Europe.

“We look forward to updating investors on progress on the Spanish portfolio as major milestones are met in the coming year.”

At 0820 GMT, shares in Foresight Solar Fund were up 0.39% at 102.89p.