NextEnergy Capital Group’s solar infrastructure fund, which seeks to raise $750m (€674.3m), has received capital commitments from a pool of institutional investors including Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company at second close.
The manager said the NextPower III (NPIII) fund has received a total of $118m in capital commitments from the Finnish mutual pension insurance company, UK charity fund manager CCLA and a Swedish institutional investor.
Following this second close, NPIII has commitments of $280m. The fund had a first close in November 2018.
NPIII is an environmental, social and governance infrastructure fund focused on funding the construction and long-term ownership of new-build solar power plants across international markets.
The fund is targeting a gross internal rate of return of 13% - 15%.
Since its first close, NPIII has acquired three US projects with a total installed capacity of 150MWp, the manager said.
Michael Bonte-Friedheim, founding partner and group CEO of NextEnergy Capital, said: “NPIII has made excellent progress since first close. The quality of institutional support for the fund underlines increasing investor interest and support for our climate change-focused investment strategy.
“In parallel to significantly growing the portfolio of solar projects owned by NPIII, we are looking forward to securing further investor support during the first half of 2020.”
Jan Schulman, Elo portfolio manager said: “Investments in renewable energy generation are a central and profitable part of our investment operations.
“By investing in the globally active NextPower III fund, which is specialised in solar power, Elo puts its effort into a sector growing strongly on an international level. This considerable investment in the fund is also aligned with our long-term strategy of responsible investing.”
Shane Swords, NextEnergy Capital’s managing director and head of investor relations, said: “Institutional investors’ notable interest in NextPower III provides further evidence of their trust in NextEnergy Capital’s ability to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns, in the solar sector which it is a specialist in.”
