VORTEX ENERGY III
On the back of its solid wind energy investments, Vortex Energy invested in a world-class solar energy portfolio, diversifying its renewable energy investments.
VORTEX III 2017-2020 | CASE STUDY
Transaction In Numbers
Acquisition Price
EUR 470mn
Entry Net Capacity
365 MW
Technology
Wind
Partner
EDPR
Vortex III Entry
Acquisition and Divestment
Vortex III is one of the largest standalone solar PV portfolios in the UK, with an average asset age of six years. It was established in 2017 as a GBP 470 million investment to acquire 100% of TerraForm Power’s stake in a 365 MW operational solar PV portfolio, comprised of 24 assets.
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), one of the largest utility providers in Asia, funded 50% of the equity capital of the transaction. The remaining were initially underwritten by EFG Hermes until 45% was sold later to a leading Asian pension fund. EFG Hermes retained 5% of the equity capital. The portfolio carried a project finance debt facility of GBP 300 million at completion, which was refinanced by Vortex Energy after transaction close.
Vortex Energy successfully completed the sale of their controlling and managing stake in Vortex III in 2020 at an enterprise value of GBP 500 million, generating 14% IRR for shareholders with a 1.5x cash-on-cash multiple. Upon closing, the portfolio had an average asset age of two years and an estimated useful life of 30 years.
Vortex III – 2017-2019 | Case Study
Asset and Partner Overview
- ortex Energy established Beaufort Asset Managers (BAM), an asset management team in the UK, to manage Vortex III portfolio. It also contracted Lightsource BP, Europe's largest developer of solar PV projects, as Operations and Maintenance provider.
- BAM successfully raised the portfolio’s generation by over 4% in three years. Additionally, its in-house PPA strategy, coupled with the UK government’s Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC) scheme, increased the portfolio’s revenues by over 27% and resulted in a higher-than-anticipated EBITDA exceeding 30%.
- Beaufort maximized its shareholder distributions through implementing an efficient cash management strategy, achieving an annual average cash yield of 6.5%. It closed GBP 337 million debt refinancing with eight leading European banks, delivering a subscription coverage of 2.0x.