Le mie ricette per la real estate communityHIH Invest Real Estate has expanded its fund portfolio by adding the HIH Green Energy Invest fund. Set up under Luxembourg law, it is the first Article-9 fund of this investment house. The open-ended institutional fund just acquired its first asset, and is supposed to grow to 750 million euros.
HIH Green Energy Invest pursues long-term investments in photovoltaics and onshore wind power projects. It focuses on existing installations and projects prepared for development and already approved for the construction and operation of power plants. Up to ten percent of the projected fund assets are earmarked for investments in property developments for whose construction and operation certain permits have yet to be approved. The fund seeks to invest mainly in assets worth between 20 and 120 million euros. Primary target countries are Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. However, the fund will also consider investments in the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, and the Nordics. The fund term of 30 years correlates with the projected service life of the installations, which is over 30 years.
It is expected that net cash-on-cash returns will average 5.5 percent. “What makes this a reasonable target are not least the perfectly predictable revenues: Solar irradiation and wind force can be reliably forecast, power purchase agreements have long terms, and the demand for electricity is growing,” explained Kristof Krull, Head of Infrastructure at HIH Invest. The investment house has gathered an experienced team headed by Krull for the acquisition of project assets. It is superbly networked with transaction partners, asset management partners and funding partners, and boasts a track record worth more than 2.5 billion euros handled.
“For HIH Invest, the new fund is a premiere in more ways than one. For the first time, we are venturing outside the classic real estate sector and entering a new asset class that, while having a lot in common with it, differs in many ways from our accustomed business. We have pushed forward with the diversification of our product line-up over the past few years, and are opening up new growth areas. This gives us an even broader range of options to meet our clients’ needs,” commented Alexander Eggert, Managing Director of HIH Invest.
The infrastructure team just acquired its first investment asset for the HIH Green Energy Invest fund: The “Grande Lande” wind farm constructed in the Pays de la Loire region in north-west France consists of six facilities equipped with wind turbines of the Vestas brand, and has a combined output of 13.2 Megawatts. It was sold by BayWa r.e. France, which is the BayWa r.e. subsidiary that developed and constructed the wind farm and that will operate it in the future. The internationally active BayWa r.e. group is a global leader in the development and production of energy solutions in the area of renewable energies.
Source : HIH Invest Real Estate.