Aquila European Renewables Income Fund (“AERIF” or the “Company”) the London-listed investment company advised by Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft mbh (“Aquila”) has today announced that it intends to acquire Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy a Finish wind farm company. The planned acquisition completes the fourth investment since the successful Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019. The Company had initially secured the exclusive right to acquire Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy by entering into a short-term financing agreement as announced on August 5th, 2019. With this transaction it will now acquire all shares of Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy.
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The final consideration will amount to approximately 16% of the proceeds raised from the recent IPO. In line with management expectations the overall investment ratio of the Company now sums up to approximately 55.6% of the proceeds raised from the IPO.
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Aalto Wind No 2 Ltd Oy holds the li Olhava (Olhava) wind farm and its extension, li Olhava Extension (Olhava Ext), approximately 50km north of the city of Oulu with an installed capacity of 34.55 MW and an expected production of 99.2 GWh p.a. based on historical production values. The park comprises eight Vestas V112 and three Vestas V126 turbines with capacities between 3.1 and 3.3 MW.
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The wind parks qualify for the Finnish feed-in tariff (“FiT”) support scheme. This FiT is structured as a contract-for-difference (CfD). Project Olhava is eligible for the CfD premium for approximately five more years until mid to late 2024. The 9.9 MW Olhava Ext. is eligible for approximately six more years until September 2025. The parks are also eligible for guarantees of origin (GoO) certificates. Each wind park receives one GoO per produced MWh. It is expected to enter into a GoO purchase agreement (GPA) for up to five years to further hedge the market price exposure.
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Looking ahead, Aquila intends to conclude power purchase agreements (“PPAs”) as soon as market conditions and hedging solutions are feasible and considered as attractive from a risk-adjusted point of view.Ian Nolan, Chairman, of the Company said: “The Board is pleased to see that the strategically important acquisition of Olhava has now been completed.”
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Commenting on today’s announcement, Christine Brockwell, Senior Investment Manager at Aquila, the investment advisor: “Geographic diversification is one of the key pillars that the Company uses to balance its portfolio. With this latest investment, the Company is now diversified across four different countries into attractive income yielding investments.”