Etrion completes phase one of sale of Italian solar portfolio
Etrion, a solar independent power producer, has announced that it has completed phase one of the previously disclosed sale of its Italian solar portfolio to EF Solare Italia, a joint venture owned equally by Enel Green Power S.p.A. and Fondo Italiano per le Infrastrutture "F2i". EF Solare Italia has purchased Etrion S.p.A., which owns 53.4 MW of Etrion's total portfolio in Italy, for cash consideration of Euro 73.1 million and the assumption of related project-level debt of Euro 198 million. Etrion expects to complete the balance of the sale (the 6.7 MW Helios ITA portfolio) in January 2017.
Etrion intends to use the sale proceeds to advance its solar development activities in Japan and to repurchase a portion of its outstanding corporate bond. In Japan, Etrion has 34 MW operational, 23 MW under construction and approximately 250 MW in its development pipeline. Etrion has a Euro 80 million corporate bond listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange that matures in April 2019 and pays 8% annual interest.
Marco A. Northland, Etrion's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "The sale of the Italian assets demonstrates our ability to monetize solar assets at multiples of our original investment. The sale proceeds will allow us to accelerate our growth in Japan while, at the same time, deleveraging the company through our previously announced intention to repay part of our corporate bond."
