NextEnergy Solar Fund has added a further £42 million to its acquisition firepower after closing a tap share issue programme.

The investment fund first announced plans to hold a tap issuance programme in mid-July, the details of which were disclosed on Friday.

New and existing shareholders will now purchase around 42 million shares in NESF at a price of 100.4p per share, generating £42 million in gross proceeds.

Cantor Fitzgerald, Fidante Capital, Macquarie Capital and Shore Capital acted as bookrunners for the issue.

NESF revealed that the proceeds are to be used to pursue a “substantial pipeline of acquisition targets” and “further growth opportunities” in UK solar that the firm’s investment manager has identified as being available at attractive prices.

The fund’s solar portfolio currently comprises 414MW of ground-mount projects, a figure which stands to rise if NESF can take advantage of the currently booming secondary market.

NESF also said that it expected to benefit from the wider impacts of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

“While the medium- and long-term effects of the Brexit referendum are as yet unknown, the directors believe the company may benefit from, amongst others, a lower interest rate environment and investors may also be increasingly attracted to the company's sole focus on operating solar projects in the UK as they seek infrastructure assets demonstrating long-term low-volatility attributes and with limited correlation to the financial performance of other asset classes in the UK,” the company stated.