The Marguerite Fund advised that it had recently completed the purchase of 36MW of EDF Energies Nouvelles’ 115MW Toul- osières solar project in France. Said to be the largest solar PV project in Europe, the Toul-Rosières project is located on a former air base owned by the French State and spreads over 522 hectares. First Solar provided over 1.5 million of its thin-film panels for the installation, which is expected to start producing electricity during Q3. Development, construction, operation and maintenance are managed by EDF Energies Nouvelles.
Financing for the acquisition by the Marguerite Fund was done under a term loan facility arranged by BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. This is the fund’s second investment since its initiation in 2010.
Nicolás Merigó, CEO of Marguerite Adviser , said, “We are delighted to complete this second transaction with EDF Energies Nouvelles. Renewables is one of our core sectors and we consider that this project is a unique opportunity to invest in a utility scale solar PV plant in France. The transaction was closed with non-recourse project finance debt raised with commercial banks in a difficult market.”