Funding and M&A Roundup: Belectric’s European Solar Business Acquired by Elevion Group

From: Mercom Capital Group
Czech utility CEZ’s Elevion Group has acquired the European solar operations of Belectric Group. The acquisition covers a 100% stake in the German-based Belectric and other European parts of the Belectric Solar & Battery Group, such as Belectric France, Belectric Solar, Belectric Italia, and Belectric Israel. The acquisition is in line with the Elevion Group’s strategy that envisages covering the entire business chain in the field of climate-neutral solutions. The acquisition helps Belectric access new customers and the possibility of significant synergies in the advanced energy solutions sector.
Energy firm AES Corporation has acquired Community Energy, a U.S.-based solar developer, to expand its solar and storage project pipeline. AES has signed power purchase agreements to deliver 4 GW of renewables in the U.S. this year. The acquisition of Community Energy would enhance its expansion efforts with a strong pipeline and skilled development workforce. Community Energy has developed more than 3 GW of solar and storage projects. It also opened the market for utility-scale solar by developing 100 MW scale solar projects in seven states in the U.S. It has developed about 5% of all utility-scale solar built in the U.S. to date.
Ark Energy Corporation (Ark Energy), a wholly-owned Australian subsidiary of Korea Zinc Company, announced it would acquire a 100% interest in Epuron Holdings, utility-scale wind and solar energy developer in Australia.
Indian renewable energy company CleanMax has received $34 million in funding from the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). The company is expected to utilize the funding to enhance its commercial and industrial (C&I) renewable energy portfolio in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. It has lined up new solar, wind, and wind-solar hybrid projects in states like Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is supporting the Enel Group’s energy efficiency and renewable development objectives, in line with the Paris Agreement and the Green Deal, with a Sustainability-Linked framework financing of €120 million (~$135.6 million). The agreement provides for energy efficiency measures in residential buildings and the development of small and medium-sized renewable energy projects, mainly located in certain convergence regions of Italy, in line with the European Union’s Cohesion Policy, thereby contributing to the development of areas of the country with unemployment levels above the European average.
Schroders, a London-based asset management company, announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire a 75% shareholding in Greencoat Capital Holdings, a British renewables investor, for ?358 million (~$474.09 million). With this acquisition, Greencoat will become part of Schroders Capital, a private market division of Schroders. The acquisition will be completed in the first half (1H) of 2022. Schroders has kept options for their and the Greencoat management shareholders to acquire the remaining 25% stake at a fair market value.
Iberdrola, a multinational electric utility company, has expanded its presence in Australia by acquiring Autonomous Energy, a provider of smart solutions and behind-the-meter green energy technology. The acquisition builds on the integration of Infigen Energy (now Iberdrola Australia) in 2020, a vertically integrated renewable energy company with 940 MW of installed capacity. Since then, Iberdrola has also incorporated Avonlie, a 245 MW solar PV project in New South Wales, and made the project’s final investment decision.
DroneBase, an aerial data analytics company, announced that it had acquired India-based aerial, solar inspection, and data analytics provider AirProbe. The acquisition expands DroneBase’s footprint throughout the Asia Pacific and Europe. AirProbe’s proprietary Artificial Intelligence significantly reduces the amount of time needed to analyze aerial inspection data of solar energy systems by up to 50%. This enables solar owners, operators, and financiers to quickly fix high-value anomalies and defects to increase energy generation and improve system ROI.
ArcLight Capital Partners, an infrastructure firm, announced that it had launched its Infinigen Renewables platform with a $400 million capital commitment. As an initial foundation of the platform, Infinigen has completed an acquisition of two operating solar PV plants in Puerto Rico – Oriana and Horizon – totaling 73.2MW plus multiple development opportunities, in partnership with Helios Alternative Energy.
The Competition Tribunal has conditionally approved the proposed merger whereby Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure intends to acquire the employees of Abengoa South Africa and the assets of solar company Kaxu CSP. The Tribunal said the transaction is approved subject to broad-based black economic empowerment ownership-related conditions. The primary acquiring firm is Atlantica South Africa Operations, an indirect subsidiary of Atlantica. Atlantica conducts activities in South Africa through Kaxu Solar One. Through this subsidiary, it has a 100 MW solar parabolic facility in Pofadder, in the Northern Cape, known as the Kaxu Facility.
The AES Corporation announced the acquisition of U.S. solar developer Community Energy Solar. AES has signed PPAs to deliver 4 GW of renewables in the U.S. in 2021, and the acquisition of Community Energy will further bolster the company’s future expansion efforts with a strong pipeline and skilled development workforce. AES’ US renewables portfolio now includes 4.4 GW of operating assets and 5.7 GW of signed PPAs.
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Read last week’s funding roundup.