Sunrock sold its Belgian rooftop solar portfolio to Patronale


Brussels – Corporate Finance International (‘CFI’) is pleased to announce that it acted as financial advisor to Sunrock in the sale of its Belgian rooftop solar portfolio to Patronale.

Sunrock is a Dutch pioneer in investing in large scale solar energy (Photovoltaic) projects. Sunrock recognized in an early stage the attractiveness of large scale Belgian PV projects as a long term sustainable investment. During 2012 and 2018, Sunrock created different investment funds through which it acquired a significant portfolio of Belgian roof top based PV projects. These projects benefit from a feed-in mechanism providing them a price guarantee over a 20 year period.

Based on the knowledge acquired in Belgium, Sunrock became one of the major players in developing and financing large scale roof top mounted projects in the Netherlands once the Dutch market opened up for such projects as from 2016. End of 2018, Sunrock decided to sell all their Belgian projects in order to fully focus on the Dutch market and to lock in the return for their investors on the Belgian projects.

Sunrock contracted the services of Dries Bossuyt as their exclusive financial advisor for the transaction based on his M&A experience, his industry knowledge and his network in the renewable energy industry.  Dries had been the advisor to the seller on a number of transactions where Sunrock was the buyer so Sunrock had first-hand experience in working with CFI.

CFI, in close cooperation with the Sunrock team, organized a tender process, soliciting offers from a broad range of Belgian and international investors in renewable energy infrastructure assets.   The size of the portfolio (over 100 projects for a total of 33 MWp) with an excellent risk/return profile attracted large interest and a significant number of offers.

Through a well-organized and efficient (to both sellers and bidders)  process, the portfolio was sold in less than 3 months to Patronale Verzekeringen, a Belgian institutional investor. Patronale already had significant investments in Belgian PV projects and seized the opportunity to grow its portfolio to become the largest of its kind in Belgium, reaping significant economies of scale.

The transaction closed in January 2019.

 

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