Glennmont Partners, one of the largest infrastructure vehicles dedicated to clean energy across Europe, has secured a EUR50m investment in its second fund by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The investment is the single largest clean energy equity investment made by EIB this year.
Clean energy investment is a key focus for the EIB as it works to support the European Union’s stated policy objective to cut greenhouse-gas emissions across Europe by 20 per cent over the next six years. In recent years the EIB’s annual lending in this sector has increased substantially reaching EUR3.3bn in 2012.
As well as lending, the EIB makes equity investments and provides finance and expertise to projects across Europe. The EIB has a rigorous review process for all the projects that it chooses to invest in including considering their financial, technical and social long-term performance.
Joost Bergsma, chief executive of Glennmont, says: “We are delighted that the EIB has chosen to invest in our second fund. It has developed a first class reputation for its work in clean energy and this investment further demonstrates that our independent, specialist approach is attractive to top-level investors. We share a common goal with the EIB to promote sustainable and secure sources of energy for the UK while also delivering consistent yield and long-term capital appreciation for investors.”
“Glennmont has an established track record and proven readiness to support renewable energy projects across Europe. The European Investment Bank is pleased to back projects that tackle a changing climate,” says Jonathan Taylor, European Investment Bank vice president responsible for environment and climate lending.
Glennmont Partners was founded earlier this year following a spin-off of BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners. Its seeks to raise long-term capital to invest in alternative power generation projects focusing on proven technologies such as wind, biomass, solar and small-scale hydro across the UK and continental Europe.
The EIB’s investment will be directly injected into Glennmont’s second clean energy infrastructure fund which now has commitments of EUR250m from both new and existing investors from its first fund.
