Ardian closes €60m financing on Italian biomass plant

The firm and partner Tozzi Green secure debt for the 25.2MW project three years after they paid €100m for the site.

Ardian and partner Tozzi Green have sealed €60 million in financing for one of the largest biomass projects in Italy.

The duo’s 25.2MW Agritre plant has secured debt from local banking quartet Banca IMI, Mediocredito Italiano, UBI Banca and Cariromagna, according to law firm WFW, which advised the lenders.

The project has been operational for more than a year following Ardian and Tozzi Green’s acquisition of the plant in October 2014 for €100 million. The deal was made through Ardian’s €1.75 billion third fund, which closed in 2013.

It was initially added to their TRE Solar platform, which held more than 460MW of solar, wind and hydropower assets alongside the biomass site, and was owned 65 percent by Ardian and 35 percent by Tozzi Green. However, Ardian earlier this year acquired full control of TRE Solar, but carved out the biomass project, which is now held 52 percent by Ardian with the remainder owned by Tozzi Green.

The project is the only biomass plant in Ardian’s renewables portfolio, which spans Norway, Sweden, Chile and Peru, with more than 1GW of capacity. The firm retains a significant presence in Italy through the TRE Solar platform as well as through Tolve Windfarms Holding, a company it bought in June which owns three wind farms in the country with a capacity of 37.2MW.