Foresight Group has secured co-investment from a syndicate of four institutions investing alongside Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners to finance a greenfield onshore wind project in Sweden.
Foresight Group has secured co-investment from a syndicate of four institutions investing alongside Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners to finance a greenfield onshore wind project in Sweden.
The specialist renewables infrastructure fund, which is intending to have the wind project fully operational in 2021, achieved first close at EUR 342 million in January 2020. It is the first commercial-scale project to use the new Siemens Gamesa 5x platform, deploying the most powerful onshore wind turbines globally to date.
“We are delighted to have been able to introduce such a strong syndicate of co-investors alongside our Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners fund to support the development of this, our first greenfield onshore wind investment in Sweden,” said Richard Thompson, partner, Foresight Group.
The syndicate of co-investors includes BAE Systems Pension Funds Investment Management acting on behalf of the BAE Systems Pension Funds, Polhem Infra KB, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse Gjensidig Forsikringsselskap and Arcano managed funds.
“We are continuing to find strong demand amongst European institutional investors for the renewable energy infrastructure asset class, given both its resilience and strong sustainability characteristics, and expect to be able to announce further closes for FEIP, which has a target size of EUR500 million, in due course,” added Thompson.
The project, which Foresight acquired from Arise AB in December 2019, is FEIP’s first investment and represents the largest wind farm in Foresight’s expanding portfolio.
Located in Härjedalen municipality of central Sweden, construction at the Skaftåsen site is progressing on schedule and on budget, according to Foresight Group.
The private equity investment manager estimates that the project will generate power equivalent to saving 425,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum when compared to coal-powered electricity generation. The project will contribute 1 percent of revenues to the local community during operations, Foresight said.
Foresight was advised by Ashurst (legal adviser), Vinge (local legal counsel), EY (financial and tax due diligence) and Worthwhile Capital Partners, who acted as placement agent in the Nordic region.
