Significant investments in UK solar projects have helped grow institutional investor Foresight Group’s assets under management by more than 50% to over £1 billion.
The group’s infrastructure business, which is responsible for Foresight’s solar activities, enjoyed significant growth which has seen it account for approximately two thirds of the group’s assets under management.
In September this year, Foresight’s solar team listed the £150 million Foresight Solar Fund on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The move followed Foresight’s move to refinance its existing portfolio of UK solar assets with the issue of a £60 million solar bond. Most recently, Foresight acquired the UK’s largest solar farm – the 33MW Wymeswold solar farm – for £43.7 million.
The asset management group explained that regulatory changes in the banking sector have meant that bond instruments have become an increasingly popular method of refinancing. The index-linked nature of a solar farm’s revenue stream means that institutional investors are offered fixed income-like return that is more attractive than the current low yields offered by index-linked treasury gilts.
In addition to its solar investment’s, Foresight’s environmental investment business has reported an acceleration in the deployment of investments managed for UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), the London Green Fund, the European Investment Bank, institutional investors and private investors.