Zak Bentley
The fund will focus on projects in Germany and other countries in Western Europe with a comparable regulatory system and seek to generate net returns of at about 4%, although returns can reach up to at least 8% through investment in a sub-fund involving more leverage. Agloria and Universal Investment are looking to avoid projects that ‘frequently miss the forecasted results’.
The 27MW project is the group’s fourth such asset in Italy, where it is also one of the largest solar owners.
The UK-headquartered manager has raised €70m for its Italian Green Bond Fund, which is aiming for €200m in total.
A portfolio of more than 20 projects with a capacity of 140MW have been backed in a bid to help the fledgling sector.
The 55MW investment is the fund’s first deal in the country since November 2014.
The scheme has come under fire from the National Audit Office days after construction group Carillion was liquidated.
The new government says it will ‘consider opening’ its $1trn sovereign wealth fund to unlisted infrastructure investments.
The German fund manager has bought its first project in Spain, hailing the ‘free market conditions’ after sealing the 45MW subsidy-free asset.
Some 13 investors have been tapped so far for the €600m vehicle, with €100m invested by the EIB. It will target 500MW of assets ready to be built and those recently operational, backed by regulatory regimes.
The Silicon Ranch platform sold to Shell received a $100m investment by the firm in April 2016.