Octopus Investments (“Octopus”), part of the Octopus Group and the largest commercial solar investor in Europe, has completed the refinancing of 5 solar projects with 64MW of generation capacity near to Montalto di Castro in the Lazio region of Italy.
The €23m financing package has been provided by MPS Capital Services Banca per le Imprese (MPSCS) and represents a new landmark deal for solar in Europe – securing project finance debt against solar projects without government subsidy.
Italy remains a key market for Octopus, as a further 110MW of subsidy free solar projects are currently being built across 12 additional sites in the country. When completed, these additional projects will bring Octopus’ Italian solar portfolio to a total of 173MW.
This refinancing is the latest in a series of PV refinancing announcements from Octopus in recent months, including a 17.4MW refinancing in France in May 2017 and the expansion of Europe’s largest ever portfolio refinancing (622MW) in November 2017.
Matt Setchell, Head of Octopus’ energy investments team, said:
“I’m really excited that, together with MPSCS, Octopus has once again broken new ground in the European project finance market. This represents a major step on the path to bringing institutional grade renewable energy projects to European markets without government subsidy. We’ve constructed a portfolio of assets that consistently exceed performance expectations, and have now validated our plans to build large scale grid parity solar in Italy with external project finance. I’d like to thank MPSCS for working with us to create a financing package for solar without subsidy in Italy – I’m confident this deal is just the start of a significant market opportunity for both of us”.
Guido Paci, Head of Project Finance at MPS Capital Services said:
“First of all, we would like to thank the Octopus team for working with us to open up this new and exciting market. We always seek to create positive and long term partnerships with our clients and we trust there will be further opportunities to work alongside this important international investment group. MPSCS has always been active in renewables and we will continue to do so, applying the right flexibility to implement new and bankable project finance structures in line with the market’s needs. We are very proud to have worked with Octopus to finance a major new trend for solar power in Europe.”
Linklaters (Legal), Sinergetica (commercial) and PWC (Tax and accounting) advised Octopus and EOS Consulting (Technical), Watson Farley & Williams (Legal) and Operis (Model Audit) advised the lenders.
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For journalists in their professional capacity only. The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the full amount they invest. We do not offer investment or tax advice. We recommend investors seek professional advice before deciding to invest. Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. Issued: January 2018.