The portfolio consists of 15 solar parks, which are located within a 50-km radius in the regions Abruzzo and Marche in the Center of Italy. The solar parks have been in operation since 2011 and benefit from feed-in tariffs with EUR 0.291 to EUR 0.346 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
BEE expects that the portfolio will contribute more than EUR 10 million to the group's annual revenues from 2018 onwards.
The seller of the portfolio is VIRIDIS Energia Srl (VIRIDIS), headquartered in Milan, Italy, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) with an established track record of more than 110 MW in the development, acquisition, revamping and management of renewable energy plants. VIRIDIS is an industrial player highly focused on the photovoltaic small and mid-market consolidation process.
“Consistently with our industrial strategy we successfully completed this first portfolio sale and a second one, already under management, will be marketed within 2019 to institutional investors. These sales generate additional resources to boost our green investments pipeline (>250 MW), mainly targeting the domestic renewable energies market in the coming years. We are glad that our first portfolio has been acquired by BEE that is an experienced investor and a reliable partner with whom we want to further enlarge our collaboration in the future”, says Paolo Pesaresi, Chairman of the Board of VIRIDIS.
Banca IMI acted as financial advisor to VIRIDIS for the disposal of the solar assets.
With the acquisition of the VIRIDIS portfolio, BEE expands its Italian footprint from 20 MW to 42 MW. As a result, the total installed capacity of BEE's solar and wind farm portfolio increases to more than 250 MW.
“The acquired portfolio fits well into our investment strategy and we are looking forward to deepening our partnership with VIRIDIS in the future as we value their professionalism”, says Tim Kallas, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Blue Elephant Energy AG.
Blue Elephant Energy AG acquires and operates solar and wind parks as well as other infrastructure projects in the field of renewable energies. BEE´s aim is to build up a high class portfolio of renewable energy assets to contribute its share towards a bigger renewable energy supply and to provide its shareholders with attractive returns. BEE invests in sustainable projects that generate long term predictable cash flows. BEE partners in particular with project developers who value BEE's reliability and dynamic approach and are looking for repeat business. With equity and equity-like funds provided and committed by BEE's shareholders and Gothaer insurance group, more than EUR 300 million are available to expand the portfolio. Via the use of project financings at the project level, an investment volume of up to EUR 1.5 billion can be realized. BEE is investing in politically stable regions and acquires ready-to-build or operating solar and wind farms.
