Greencoat Renewables to buy three wind farms in France

Renewable infrastructure company Greencoat Renewables is to acquire a portfolio of three wind farms in France.

The assets are being purchased from John Laing Group for a total consideration of €30.3m.

The portfolio of operating wind farms has an overall net enterprise value of €95m and a 16-year long-term fixed-rate project finance.

Greencoat Renewables investment manager Bertrand Gautier said: “Consistent with our long-term strategy, we are pleased to be making our first investment into the French wind market. The assets benefit from France’s stable regulatory regime, with the fixed-price Feed-in-Tariff guaranteeing power prices for the next 12.3 years.

“Our existing portfolio already has 97% of its cashflows contracted under REFIT until 1 January 2028, and this acquisition further extends the proportion and duration of our fixed-price revenues.”

One of the three wind farms is Passilly, a 20MW wind farm in the Burgundy region and commissioned in September 2016.

Other plants are a 21.6MW Sommette wind farm commissioned in December 2017, and the 10.3MW St Martin wind farm, which was commissioned in June 2018.

Completion of the deal is subject to approval from French regulatory authority. It will be funded by Greencoat Renewables’ €380m credit facility.

Upon completion of the deal, Greencoat Renewables will foray into continental Europe and its installed capacity is expected to increase to 528.1MW.

Gautier added: “The acquisition will bring gearing to 43%, which is towards the lower end of our target range and will provide flexibility to pursue further opportunities as they arise.

“We are also pleased to have partnered with John Laing, again demonstrating our ability to transact with leading investors and developers across the sector.”

In December 2018, Greencoat Renewables entered an agreement to acquire two Irish wind farms from BlackRock Real Assets (BlackRock) for a total consideration of €88m ($100.4m).