Sonnedix agrees to sell its South African solar operations to BTE renewables
Sonnedix, the global solar independent power producer (IPP), has completed the ownership transfer of its South African operation to the Pan-African wind and solar IPP BTE Renewables, backed by leading global infrastructure investor Actis.
The transaction includes the sale of Sonnedix Africa’s wholly owned subsidiary, Sonnedix Solar South Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd (“Sonnedix Solar South Africa”).
Sonnedix Solar South Africa owns a 60% interest in Mulilo Sonnedix Prieska PV (RF) Proprietary Limited which in turn owns the solar photovoltaic facility in the Prieska region of the Northern Cape Province in South Africa with a contracted capacity of 75MW (the “Prieska Project”). Sonnedix Solar South Africa also manages the Prieska Project via a management services agreement on behalf of the shareholders.
“We are moving our operations away from South Africa - where we’ve been successfully managing our 86.2MW Sonnedix Prieska project for over five years – in order to align our sustainable growth strategy across OECD markets”, said Axel Thiemann, CEO of Sonnedix. “We take with us the experience of operating in this market and working with a great team of experts, and we’re confident of leaving things in the good hands of a company that’s also committed to further expanding the use of solar.”
BET Renewables’ CEO Robert Skjodt said, “This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to growing our African renewable energy asset portfolio, which already includes two solar PV plants in the same area of South Africa, making this a natural fit whilst successfully increasing our operating project portfolio to 473 MW. We look forward to working with our new partners and contributing positively to South Africa’s clean energy production”
On this transaction, Sonnedix was advised by Norton Rose Fullbright as primary legal counsel and Fieldstone as its financial advisor, while Bowmans served as primary legal counsel to BTE Renewables.
