Agrivert gets $150m for sustainable growth

Oxfordshire, England-based organic waste management company Agrivert has announced in a statement the closure of a £96 million (€131 million; $150 million) refinancing to reduce the company’s capital costs and complete two new anaerobic digestion waste-to-energy plants in the coming year.

The London-listed specialist infrastructure debt investor Gravis Capital Partners (GCP) Infrastructure Investments has provided £63 million in debt to Agrivert, which takes the form of a 17-year, fixed-rate loan to replace more expensive, short-term debt.  

The existing equity holders have reinvested as part of the financing, allowing Alcuin Capital Partners, Agrivert’s private equity backer, to exit fully. It is a profitable and successful exit for Alcuin Capital Partners, according to the company’s founding partner, Ian Henderson-Londoño.

The deal is the largest and longest-term debt package for the UK biogas sector, and was arranged by London-based renewables merchant bank, Augusta & Co.

“This financing has simplified and reduced the cost of our borrowing, as well as provided the funding to support a significant growth of our business,” said Alexander Madden, Agrivert’s chief executive.

The two new 40,000-tonne, 3MWe anaerobic digestion waste-to-energy plants backed by the financing are located in Hertfordshire and South Wales and are now under construction. The facilities are expected to start operating in summer 2016.

By then, Agrivert will have a generating capacity of 13MWe across five wholly-owned plants.

The five plants will recycle 200,000 tonnes of food waste per year and supply 300,000 cubic meters of high-quality, PAS110-accredited organic digestate fertiliser to some of the country’s leading farms.  

Beside three existing anaerobic digestion plants, Agrivert also owns and operates two ‘in-vessel’ composting plants, and three green-waste composting plants, while also providing planning, engineering and construction services to external clients.