Schroders Greencoat acquires 514MW UK solar portfolio

Schroders Greencoat has agreed to acquire a £700m 514MW operational solar portfolio in the UK.

Toucan Energy’s solar portfolio, consisting of 53 solar farms, will be majority acquired by private markets funds managed by Schroders Greencoat, the specialist renewables manager of Schroders Capital.

The acquisition follows a competitive bidding process managed by the joint administrators of Toucan Energy Holdings 1 Limited at Interpath Advisory.

With a combined capacity of 513.5MW across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, it is the largest operational solar portfolio transacted in the UK to date, said Schroders Greencoat, which already has 1.35GW of solar assets under management.

A significant portion is being acquired by six Local Government Pension Schemes - Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire - via Schroders Greencoat Wessex Gardens, a locally-focused renewable energy infrastructure fund established last year.

Tokyo Century is acting as a co-investor in the acquisition.

Schroders Greencoat partner Lee Moscovitch said: “This is a major achievement for us, particularly given the size, complexity and number of stakeholders involved in the transaction.

“We will aim to deliver reliable returns for our investors via these assets, as they continue to provide a substantial contribution to the UK’s net zero strategy.

“I’d like to thank the joint administrators at Interpath Advisory for their management of a thorough due diligence process, which along with our own assessments, demonstrated the high quality of the underlying assets in the portfolio.”

Jim Tucker, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator of Toucan Energy Holdings 1 Limited, said: “We are delighted to have reached this landmark agreement, which will see this excellent solar portfolio move into new ownership, delivering optimum value and generating a significant return for the portfolio’s creditors.

“This was a highly competitive sales process, requiring substantial preparation, due in no small part to the fact that assets of this scale and quality rarely come to market.

"We look forward to the transaction completing in the coming weeks.”