Greenstone Finance and Aurium Capital Markets have acquired the business and assets of the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC), as well as its existing loan book, for a total consideration of GBP40 million.
The acquisition is being supported by Honeycomb Investment Trust (HIT) which is managed by Pollen Street Capital.
Greenstone Finance, which invests in organisations focused on financing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and Aurium, a structured finance boutique with a focus on renewable energy, have acquired GDFC Services and its subsidiaries with immediate effect; the new ownership will continue to service the existing Green Deal loans and will commence financing of new Green Deal loans in Q1 2017.
First launched by the government in 2013, the Green Deal was established to address the fact that the UK has some of the most thermally inefficient housing in Europe. Green Deal loans provide customers with accessible financing to improve their homes by installing energy efficiency products. In particular, Green Deal financing has the potential to help: those who face the heavy costs of needing to install a new boiler or other essential measures but who can’t afford to pay the upfront costs of doing so; those who want to increase the value of their homes through installing renewable energy or energy efficiency measures; landlords requested by tenants to install energy efficiency improvements or, as of April 2018, landlords who own properties that fall below the new minimum energy efficiency (EPC) rating of E.
Green Deal loans offer competitive interest rates and are more easily managed as loans are repaid as part of a customer’s energy bill, which will normally be reduced by the energy savings generated from the measure the loan has financed – a “Pay-As-You-Save” scheme. Furthermore, the loan remains with the property and is paid by the energy bill payer in regular instalments – ensuring the payments are made by the person who benefits from the energy saving.
Minister for Energy and Industry Jesse Norman says: “People living in more energy efficient homes can have lower bills and warmer homes, while producing fewer carbon emissions, which is why the government has committed to improving the insulation of more than one million homes over this Parliament. This deal will help us to reach that goal.”
Kilian Pender, founder and CEO of Greenstone Finance, says: “We believe that the concept of repaying your loan as you save on your energy bills is an excellent one and with the significant private investment that we have secured, we’re looking forward to rolling the Green Deal finance scheme out across the country. We will provide homeowners a cost effective way to improve their homes and quality of life.”
Nimesh Kamath, partner at Aurium, says: “This joint venture with Greenstone Finance adds to Aurium’s continued commitment to the UK renewable energy sector and, in particular, the objective of improving the energy efficiency of UK buildings for consumers and business owners alike, whilst supporting the wider goals of distributed energy generation and energy security in the UK.”
