Octopus Renewables to buy subsidised French PV portfolio for EUR 59m

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc (LON:ORIT) has signed a deal to buy a 119.5-MW portfolio of subsidised solar plants in France for a total cash consideration of EUR 58.9 million (USD 70m).

The UK-incorporated closed end investment company is acquiring the assets from one of the renewable funds that Samsung Securities has invested in and a minority investor, it said on Friday.

The portfolio includes 14 fully-operational photovoltaic (PV) parks ranging in size from 4.6 MW to 12 MW. Each of them benefits from a feed-in tariff (FiT) under the French 2011 Tariff Order and 2011 Call for Tenders. Their operational start took place between 2013 and 2015 and the plants still have an average of 12.7 years remaining under the FiT contracts.

The assets come with EUR 99 million of existing project finance from Hamburg Commercial Bank. ORIT noted it will get the economic benefit of all cash flows from the portfolio as of January 1, 2020.

"With this acquisition we have now committed c. 75% of the funds raised at IPO and have opened up a third market for ORIT, marking a further step towards building a diversified portfolio of renewable energy assets,” said Phil Austin, chairman of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.190)

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