Alternus Clean Energy set to Acquire Over 80 MWp of Operating Solar PV across eight states in the U.S.
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On completion will be immediately EBITDA accretive
FORT MILL, S.C., May 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alternus Clean Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALCE) (“Alternus” or the “Company”), a leading utility-scale transatlantic, clean energy independent power producer (IPP) today announced the signing of definitive agreements with a U.S. based fund to acquire over 80 MWp of operating portfolio spanning across the U.S.
The Portfolio consists of 33 projects, distributed across eight states, showcasing a geographical diversification within the U.S. The portfolio has significant long-term agreements (average remaining term of over 12 years) with 16 different counterparties. Notably, approximately 20% of these fall within the AAA and AA rating categories, such as Duke Energy, enhancing the financial stability and predictability of revenue streams. The Portfolio is expected to generate an average of $6.7 million of revenue and $5.1 million (before improvements) of operating income annually and represents an outstanding opportunity to acquire established assets generating reliable cash flows backed by long-duration contracts. The total consideration is approximately $60 million including existing project debt. Alternus plans to fund the acquisition at the project level with the target for completion by the end of Q2 2024.
Alternus Clean Energy CEO Vincent Browne commented, “We are excited with the signing of these definitive agreements as we mark the first of our many identified strategic acquisitions and other growth initiatives in the US, following our successful listing on Nasdaq in December. On completion, this will almost triple our operational projects to over 120MWp and will further enhance operational efficiencies and financial performance across our renewable energy assets in the U.S. and Europe. The Portfolio will be immediately revenue and earnings accretive generated by a diverse mix of revenue streams from quality long term offtake contracts.”
“In late 2023, Alternus announced the strategic divestment of non-core projects located in Poland and the Netherlands. The proposed acquisition of the approximately 81 MW operational portfolio in the U.S. underscores Alternus' strategic pivot towards the U.S. renewable market, aligning with our plan to pursue near-term acquisitions of both operating and ready-to-build projects from a burgeoning pipeline of ‘equity light’ projects as we build towards our goal of achieving 3GW of operating projects over the next five years,” Mr. Browne concluded.
Closing of the acquisition is still subject to certain closing conditions, including but not limited to, restructuring and assumption of the existing debt.