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