A consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management is acquiring French independent power producer (IPP) Reden Solar for an enterprise value of €2.5 billion (US$2.7 billion).
Active in eight European and Latin American countries – including its core markets of France and Spain – Reden develops, builds and operates PV plants, with a 762MW operational portfolio and a 15GW development pipeline.
Having recently expanded its footprint into Greece and Italy, the Toulouse-headquartered company is now looking to enter additional markets.
“Our business is continually evolving from predominantly rooftop solar, into ground-mounted and agrivoltaic projects,” said Reden CEO Thierry Carcel. “With the backing of our new shareholders, we look forward to expanding Reden Solar’s presence in existing and new markets, as well as developing our teams on the ground.”
Alongside Macquarie Asset Management, the acquiring consortium comprises Canadian institutional investor British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and asset manager MEAG.
They are purchasing Reden from private equity firm InfraVia and investment company Eurazeo, which own a 53% and 47% stake in the IPP, respectively. The transaction is expected to close by Q3 2022.
“Reden Solar’s geographically diverse platform provides an exceptional opportunity to scale up its development pipeline to help meet net zero targets across Europe,” said Stéphane Brimont, Macquarie Asset Management’s head of France, Benelux and Greece.
Macquarie Asset Management is part of Macquarie Group, a financial group with more than 50GW of green energy projects in development, construction and operation globally.
The Reden Solar deal comes after Macquarie recently completed its acquisition of another French IPP, Apex Energies Group, which currently manages more than 92MW of assets and is aiming to reach 1GW of capacity by 2025.
In addition, Cero Generation, a portfolio company of Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, last year acquired a 45% stake in French agriPV developer Green Lighthouse Development.