UK-based Glennmont Partners, one of Europe’s largest dedicated clean energy infrastructure fund managers has announced that it has successfully completed the refinancing of the Sleaford Renewable Energy Plant (Sleaford REP) on behalf of its dedicated clean energy fund, Glennmont Clean Energy Fund Europe I, as a part of a programme of realisations of value from the fund. The financing has been placed to a large undisclosed European institutional investor.
Glennmont Partners raises long-term capital to invest in alternative power generation projects including wind farms, biomass power stations, solar parks and small-scale hydropower plants. The Sleaford REP is a 40 MW straw-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant located in Lincolnshire, UK.
The plant has been in operation since 2014 and is being operated by Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC). The plant benefits from two Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) under the UK renewable energy regime as “good quality CHP plant”, providing free heat to the local community under long-term offtake contracts.
This transaction further highlights that biomass is a highly efficient renewable energy technology capable of attracting significant amounts of long-term, competitive institutional capital. The refinancing complements our strategy of building portfolios of renewable projects diversified by both geography and technology in order to provide predictable returns to investors. The energy market is as diverse as it has ever been with new technologies and new market structures offering investors a wide range of opportunities to invest in clean energy, said Joost Bergsma, CEO of Glennmont Partners.
The GBP 150 million (≈ EUR 170 million) financing has been placed to a large unnamed European institutional investor and, according to Glennmont Partners, is the “largest” institutional-only financing in the UK biomass sector to date. The proceeds from the refinancing repaid a project financing and contributed to directly creating value for investors. Deutsche Bank acted as sole lead Arranger, Agent, Security Trustee and Account Bank for the transaction.
We are delighted to build on our close relationship with Glennmont Partners by together delivering this pathfinder refinancing transaction for the UK biomass industry and placing it with a leading European infrastructure debt investor, said Michael Volkermann, Head of Infrastructure & Energy at Deutsche Bank.
