London solar fund expands reach with full ownership of Australian solar farms

London based Foresight Solar Fund Limited announced it has acquired the remaining 51 per cent interests in the Oakey 1 and Longreach solar farms in Queensland, Australia.

The company had acquired a 49 per cent stake in each farm in December 2017 and has acquired the remaining 51 per cent in each from Canadian Solar Inc. The total equity consideration for the remaining stakes in the two assets is equivalent to approximately 1 per cent of the fund’s latest NAV.

Both assets are fully operational and the increase to 100 per cent ownership provides the company with full management control over future optimisation initiatives.

The assets currently have senior debt facilities in place from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The senior debt facilities expire in April 2022 and are expected to be refinanced during the first quarter of 2022.

Both Longreach and Oakey 1 benefit from Power Purchase Agreements for the sale of electricity and Large-scale Generation Certificates with the Queensland Government.

These are under a contract-for-difference structure for a period of 20 years from the date of commissioning, delivering a highly contracted revenue level of operational cash flows.

This acquisition further strengthens the company’s international portfolio, while the highly contracted revenue profile of the assets will increase the predictability of the company’s portfolio cash flow generation in the medium and long-term.