Solar developer ib vogt has secured up to €270 million in financing to help it continue to pivot towards a build-own-operate strategy for a gigawatt-scale portfolio of solar assets.
The developer, which earlier this year sold a majority stake to fund manager DIF, has tapped a trio of institutional investors for a financing facility initially capped at €120 million (US$135.8 million), however this can be extended up to €270 million through an accordion mechanism.
BAE Systems Pension Funds, SCOR Investment Partners and BNP Paribas Asset Management will provide the facility, with UniCredit Bank AG acting as sole bookrunner and financial advisor.
The facility was described by ib vogt as an “integral element” in facilitating a tweak to its strategy, allowing the company to build an independent power producer (IPP) platform that owns and operates both solar PV and battery energy storage projects from its own development and EPC activities.
Ib vogt said this diversification would provide it additional value-adding opportunities, such as further revenue streams, cross selling and asset optimisation potential.
The gigawatt-scale portfolio to be pushed into the IPP model is to consist of projects from ib vogt’s existing development pipeline, with projects split across OECD countries such as France, Italy, Spain, the UK and Ireland, Poland, Hungary and Canada.
The company further added that the pipeline contains some of the largest solar projects to have been developed in a number of the countries listed, with most projects at the shovel-ready stage and others already under construction.
“We expect strong benefits and synergies between the current business focus and the IPP business extension, not least in that we are able to guarantee a high-quality, high-performance supply of projects into our IPP activities – that has at times been a challenge for IPP operators sourcing projects externally,” Anton Milner, CEO at ib vogt, said.
Ib vogt first motioned towards an IPP strategy upon selling a 51% stake in the business to DIF Capital Partners in October of this year, while a €40 million loan from Commerzbank, signed earlier this month, is to help support growth internationally.