Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Denham Capital, Qualitas Venture Capital and founder shareholders on the sale of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), a leading global developer of solar power plants, to Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ).
The acquisition results in ownership of FRV’s global solar project pipeline of approximately 3.8 GWdc. The pipeline consists of a 24 MWdc fully operational plant (‘Royalla’ in Australia), 370 MWdc of plants under construction and awarded (65 MWdc at ‘La Jacinta’ in Uruguay, 70 MWdc at ‘Moree’ in Australia, five further plants totaling 175 MWdc in Brazil and one plant of 60 MWdc in Egypt). A further 3.4 GWdc is derived from projects currently under different stages of development. From 2006 to date, FRV had successfully developed and divested approximately 1.7 GWdc, mainly from projects in the USA, Spain and Italy. The transaction marks a successful exit for Denham and its partners after a three year investment and sees ALJ significantly increase its share of the solar photovoltaics and solar thermal technology markets. ALJ’s acquisition of FRV is a natural next step in its multi-year energy strategy and follows the successful joint venture partnership announced between the two companies in January 2014.
Denham’s Co-President and Head of Power, Scott Mackin, said “Denham is proud of its three-year association with FRV; it has been a very successful investment”.
Saskia Blokland, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Amsterdam, commented: "This is a significant transaction for the renewable energy sector and we have greatly enjoyed our collaborative relationship with Denham Capital and look forward to supporting their future priorities.”
Denham Capital is a leading energy and resources-focused global private equity firm with more than US$7.9 billion of invested and committed capital across seven fund vehicles and offices in London, Boston, Houston, São Paulo and Perth. The firm makes direct investments in the energy and resources sectors, including businesses involving power generation, oil and gas, and mining, across the globe and all stages of the corporate lifecycle. More information about Denham Capital.
The Norton Rose Fulbright team consisted of the London, Amsterdam, Cape Town and Sydney offices. The Amsterdam team was led by partner Saskia Blokland, assisted by partners Geert-Jan van Rijthoven, Remco Smorenburg, Of Counsel Stefanie Walthaus, and associates Arjen van de Belt, Joep Duinker and Frank Kuilboer. The London team was led by partners Jason Moss and Stephen Rigby, assisted by associates Nari Armaly, Natalie Coverdale and Andrew Davies. Directors Matt Ash and associate Paul Hedderwick in South Africa and partner Ben Smits in Australia also provided South African and Australian regulatory input respectively.
