Greencoat Capital said it has raised £262m (€297m) of capital by the first close of its Greencoat Solar II fund from some of the biggest UK corporate pension schemes.
The firm said its clients had now committed more than £560m to its solar strategy, including £295m of capital raised for the previous fund, Greencoat Solar I – a segregated vehicle managed on behalf of a “top tier” corporate pension scheme.
Lee Moscovitch, partner at Greencoat Capital, said: “We’ve seen continued strong interest in Greencoat’s solar offering, and are delighted by both the speed of growth and the quality of the LPs involved.”
Most capital in the first fund had already been invested, he said, adding that the firm was making fast progress on Solar II with £130m of potential deals under exclusivity.
Solar I has invested more than £260m in a portfolio of 21 solar farms between five and 50 MW in size and with an aggregate capacity of over 200 MW, Greencoat said.
Moscovitch said the firm was still seeing opportunities in a busy secondary market worth more than £20bn.
The investment pipeline for the firm’s solar funds was looking robust, he said.
Solar II is focused on buying for and managing a portfolio of mixed scale, ground mount solar panels in the UK, the firm said.
The fund aims to produce predictable cash flows with high inflation protection and low or zero leverage, and intends to hold the assets for their full life.
