Fiera Infrastructure has received £48 million of senior financing to support its acquisition of a 41MWp portfolio of solar installations from Macquarie, which was first announced last year.
The Canadian investor said in December it had folded the portfolio into its Eagle Crest Infrastructure Canada LP fund to generate “stable and predictable cash flows over the long term” owing to the 20-year feed-in tariff payments supporting the portfolio.
While the sale of the portfolio was concluded six months ago, LGIM Real Assets (Legal & General) has revealed that it has provided £48 million to support Fiera Infrastructure on their investment into a fully operational portfolio consisting of more than 13,250 residential and commercial rooftop systems as well as some small ground-mounted installations.
The company confirmed that the debt transaction refinancing a large portion of the equity investment closed last week.
Located across England and Wales, the acquisition of the solar PV systems was supported by LGIM’s first staple financing solution for LGIM Real Assets Infrastructure platform.
Legal & General says the investment further enhances its existing renewables portfolio and flexibility in providing competitive funding packages.
Tom Sumpster, head of infrastructure debt at LGIM Real Assets, said: “We are delighted to have closed our first staple financing in the infrastructure sector and to have supported Fiera in their UK expansion.
“The investment from Fiera signals the strength of UK renewables as an investment proposition to international Infrastructure investors. This sector continues to be a significant focus for LGIM Real Assets and this transaction provides a stable investment grade income stream for our clients. We look forward to supporting Fiera on future opportunities”