Aquila European Renewables Income Fund (AERIF) has made its first investments with the acquisition of a Portuguese hydropower portfolio and a Danish wind farm.
The London-listed investment firm, which raised €154.3m during its initial public offering (IPO) in May, said it has acquired a 17.99% stake in Aguia Enlica in Portugal and has bought 100% of the shares in Danish company Holmen Wind Park II.
Aguia Enlica is a holding company whose directly and indirectly wholly owned subsidiaries hold and operate a portfolio of twenty-one operational small hydropower plants with a capacity of around 103MW. For the Aguia Enlica transaction, Aquila said the capital committed amounts to 10.8% of IPO proceeds.
Holmen II is an onshore wind farm located on the west coast of Denmark with 18MW of installed capacity. For this deal, Aquila said it invested 15.5% of the proceeds raised.
Ian Nolan, chairman of Aquila European Renewables Income Fund, said: “The board is very pleased that the company has quickly been able to start deploying the capital raised at the end of May through its successful IPO into a diversified portfolio of renewable energy assets.
“These assets are expected to make a strong contribution towards AERIF’s dividend objective.”
Christine Brockwell, senior investment manager at Aquila Capital, the investment adviser, said: “Completing these acquisitions means, that 26.4% of the proceeds raised from the IPO are now invested across a high quality, diversified portfolio of renewable energy generation technologies and geographies.
“This clearly demonstrates Aquila Capital’s ability to deliver attractive investment opportunities for the company and its shareholders from its deep and broad investment pipeline.”
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