Quercus ups UK solar stake with £300m acquisition

BusinessGreen staff
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Luxembourg-based management company acquires 254MW pipeline of projects following on from 14MW Cornish purchase

Quercus Assets Selection has continued its drive into UK solar by acquiring over 250MW of planned projects for over £300m.

The Luxembourg-based management company has agreed a deal with London-based developer Progressum to acquire a pipeline of 21 projects set to be constructed in the South East of the country during 2014.

Once built, the plants will form part of Quercus Renewable Energy Fund II, one of the funds managed by Quercus, as the company looks to build a portfolio of around 300MW by March 2015.

The deal follows its investment in a 14MW solar project in Cornwall earlier this month, which is due to come online by the end of March 2014.

At the time, Quercus said the deal marked its official entry into the UK market, in which it expects "to be highly active ... in the next 18 months". It added that the UK's "stable and highly efficient market" and predictable incentive structure offered up "interesting" investment opportunities.

In a statement released yesterday, Diego Biasi, founding partner of Quercus, added: "With this further investment in UK photovoltaic projects, we underline our strong interest in the market. We also might provide our current and prospective investors, European and other, who are interested in taking exposure to the UK market, one of the most coveted for investments in renewable energy, with an opportunity for bespoke solutions due to the prospective and stabilised nature that this market will offer now and in the long run."

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