LEI: 213800ZPHCBDDSQH5447
10 May 2024
NextEnergy Solar Fund
Limited
("NESF"
or the "Company")
£70m Revolving Credit
Facility Extension
NextEnergy Solar Fund, a leading
specialist investor in solar energy and energy storage, is pleased
to announce it has extended its existing £70m short-term Revolving
Credit Facility ("RCF") with Santander previously due to expire in
June 2024.
The £70m RCF extension is now
available until June 2025 and benefits from improved terms with a
margin of 150bps over SONIA ("Sterling Overnight Index Average")
compared with 160bps over SONIA under the earlier terms. As
at 7 May 2024, the Company's total interest cost for any amount
drawn under this RCF was 6.7% due to SONIA being at
5.2%.
This follows the recent announcement
of the extension of the Company's other RCF facility of £135m to
June 2026 with two additional 12-month extension options available
at the Company's sole discretion.
NextEnergy Solar Fund's two recent
RCF extensions demonstrate the appetite of its banking partners to
provide debt to the Company at attractive terms and underline the
Company's belief that debt remains readily available to it as a
leading specialist in the solar energy and energy storage
sector.
RCFs remain an important component
of the Company's disciplined capital structure and continue to
provide the Company with the flexibility to pursue value-accretive
investments or to make repayments to the RCFs from operating and
other cash flows. The Company continues to prioritise its
Capital Recycling Programme and expects to use the proceeds from
the Programme to pay down existing borrowings under the Company's
RCFs.
As at 31 December 2023, the Company
had drawn £163m from its £205m short-term Revolving Credit
Facilities and had an unaudited Gross Asset Value ("GAV") of
£1,173m. Gearing levels remain well within the Company's
investment policy limit of up to 50% of GAV and as of 31 December
2023 the Company's financial debt gearing was 28.8% and total
gearing, which includes the fixed coupon preference shares, was
45.7%.
Ross Grier, COO and Head of UK
Investments, NextEnergy Capital, commented:
"The extension of this revolving credit facility on improved
terms is a testament to NextEnergy Solar Fund's large portfolio of
high-quality assets and the availability of debt financing for
leading market participants. We are happy to continue our
strong relationship with Santander as the sole counterparty to this
facility. NextEnergy Solar Fund prides itself on its
disciplined capital structure and continues to prioritise the
capital recycling programme where the proceeds will be used to pay
down existing RCF borrowings."
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For further information:
NextEnergy Capital
Michael Bonte-Friedheim
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020 3746 0700
ir@nextenergysolarfund.com
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Ross Grier
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Stephen Rosser
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Peter Hamid (Investor
Relations)
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RBC Capital Markets
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020 7653 4000
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Matthew Coakes
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Elizabeth Evans
Kathryn Deegan
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Cavendish
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020 7397 1909
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James King
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William Talkington
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H/Advisors Maitland
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020 7379 5151
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Neil Bennett
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Finlay Donaldson
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Ocorian Administration (Guernsey)
Limited
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01481 742642
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Kevin Smith
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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 and
is a FTSE 250 constituent.
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 December 2023, the Company
had an unaudited gross asset value of £1,173m. For further
information please visit 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 website.
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: 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. 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. www.wise-energy.com
· Starlight:
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.
Notes:
1: All financial data is
unaudited at 31 December 2023, being the latest date in respect of
which NextEnergy Solar Fund has published financial
information