UK record IPO shows strong local renewable market
Less than two weeks after the UK's largest renewable energy investment capital raising comes news of an even larger IPO for renewable energy infrastructure in the UK. The Renewables Infrastructure Group has raised £300 million to invest in solar and onshore wind infrastructure projects. Revenues from the record IPO have been earmarked for the purchase of four PV power plants and 14 wind projects.
The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) is a newly incorporated Guernsey investment company that will focus exclusively on onshore wind and solar photovoltaic ("PV") energy generation assets, The proceeds of the Issue, which was oversubscribed, will be used to acquire a 276 MW (output capacity) 100%-owned initial portfolio of the projects mentioned above. The acquisitions will be located in the UK, France and Ireland. TRIG also has an option to acquire an additional onshore 16.1 MW wind farm located in France on completion of grid connection and testing, which is forecast to occur this autumn.
The TRIG group will be managed on a day-to-day basis by InfraRed Capital Partners Limited (InfraRed) as discretionary investment manager. Renewable Energy Systems Limited ("RES") has been appointed as operations manager.
As the Issue was oversubscribed, the subscription by RES has been scaled back in full to its minimum commitment of 15 million Ordinary Shares, representing 5.0 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company immediately following Admission.
Commenting on today's announcement, Helen Mahy, non-executive chairman of the Company, said, "We are delighted to have successfully raised our full IPO target size of £300 million, making TRIG one of the largest investment company launches in recent years. TRIG's diversified portfolio of high quality operational onshore wind and solar PV generation assets will provide investors with the potential to secure an attractive long term, stable, inflation-linked yield.
We look forward to growing TRIG through its access to further UK and Northern European renewables assets to be sourced from both RES' development pipeline and from the wider market."
Application has been made to the UK Listing Authority for 300 million Ordinary Shares to be admitted to the premium segment of the Official List and to the London Stock Exchange for such Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market for listed securities.
