Foresight Slr Fnd Ld Foresight Solar Fund Limited : Acquisition

 
TIDMFSFL 
 
 
   12 October 2017 
 
 
 
   Acquisition 
 
 
 
   Foresight Solar Fund Limited ("the Company") is pleased to announce that 
it has entered into binding contracts with Canadian Solar Inc. 
("Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), to acquire three construction stage 
assets in Queensland, Australia, representing 117MW of peak capacity 
once installed. The assets are Longreach Solar Farm (17 MW), Oakey 1 
Solar Farm (30 MW) and Oakey 2 Solar Farm (70 MW) with the Company 
acquiring 49% interests in each of Longreach and Oakey 1, and a 100% 
interest in Oakey 2. The Company's equity investment in terms of the 
interests acquired in these assets will amount to a total of c.A$64m 
including expected construction costs. 
 
 
 
   Longreach and Oakey 1 have entered into 20-year fixed-price offtake 
agreements with the Queensland Government for the sale of 100% of the 
electricity generated and the Large-Scale Generation Certificates 
("LGCs") and are expected to connect to the grid in March 2018 and 
September 2018, respectively. Oakey 2 is expected to connect to the grid 
in October 2018 with the offtake agreement to be agreed at a later 
stage. The Company, in line with its low risk strategy, will not take 
development risk for the projects. 
 
 
 
   This acquisition which follows the announcement of the Company's first 
Australian investment on 28 September 2017, will increase the Company's 
portfolio to 23 assets with a peak capacity of 622 MW, of which 147 MW 
are still under construction. 
 
   Both Longreach and Oakey 1 benefit from grants from the Australian 
Renewable Energy Agency ("ARENA"), as well as senior debt from the Clean 
Energy Finance Corporation ("CEFC") and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. 
The acquisitions are subject to certain conditions being met. The 
acquisitions will be funded through the existing revolving credit 
facility provided by Santander Global Corporate Banking. 
 
 
 
   Commenting on the acquisition, Alex Ohlsson, Chairman of the Company, 
said: "The Board and I are delighted to announce the Company's second 
significant solar acquisition overseas. This represents the continuing 
development of the Company's international growth strategy in 
Australia's solar sector. The transaction is further evidence of the 
success the Investment Manager has had leveraging the extensive solar 
experience and track record of Foresight's global Infrastructure team." 
 
 
 
   For further information, please contact: 
 
   Foresight Group 
 
   Romy Abrahams               [e-mail]             +44 
(0)20 3763 6956 
 
 
 
   Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, [phone] 
 
   Mark Bloomfield 
 
   Neil Winward 
 
   Tunga Chigovanyika 
 
 
 
 
 
   This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf 
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. 
 
   The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely 
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information 
contained therein. 
 
   Source: Foresight Solar Fund Limited via Globenewswire 
 
 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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