HgCapital tallies up €300m in renewables deals

The transactions take the gross capital value of HgCapital’s renewable fund to over €1bn. HgCapital’s renewable portfolio now includes 19 projects in construction or operation with 325MW of capacity.

In the UK, HgCapital acquired a 50 per cent interest in Scout Moor, a 65MW operating wind farm near Manchester, developed by Peel Energy, part of the Peel Group. Peel Energy and HgCapital said that they expect to extend the Scout Moor joint venture relationship to other projects. HgCapital’s UK onshore wind portfolio now includes 111MW in operation, 44MW fully consented and waiting for construction and over 150MW in development, making HgCapital among the largest non-utility investors in UK wind projects.

The firm also added two new Spanish solar PV projects to its existing portfolio, branded Mercurio Solar, bringing the total PV portfolio to 61MW. The new projects are a 12MW operating project in the Castilla La Mancha region developed by Naturener and an 8MW construction project in the Murcia region, developed by GA Solar and expected to be operational in April 2010. HgCapital acquired the projects with its local partner, Plenium Partners, a Madrid-based merchant banking firm that developed the 35.4MW portfolio that HgCapital acquired from AIG Group earlier in 2009. HgCapital and Plenium said that they plan to continue building out this utility scale portfolio that now consists of seven projects.

The total debt and equity value of HgCapital’s new investments is approximately €300m, while the total debt and equity value of HgCapital’s 2009 renewables transactions is over €600m.

Tom Murley, head of HgCapital’s renewable energy team, said, “The last 12 months have been a landmark year for HgCapital’s renewables team despite the most difficult market in memory. Before the downturn we held our fire instead of rushing in at unsustainable valuations or taking on second tier assets. As the cycle turned, we were ready to step in and back great assets, applying our strong execution skills, evidenced by the simultaneous closing of three investments in two countries.”

HgCapital Renewable Power Partners is a €300m fund raised in December 2006 to invest in European renewable power projects and developers.

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