Gresham House plc (LON:GHE) the specialist alternative asset manager, has announced that it has sold a further battery storage project to Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc (LON:GRID) on 30 October 2020.
The c.50MW battery-only project located near Thurcroft, to the east of Rotherham was sold for a total enterprise value of approximately £32.5 million (plus up to £0.75 million of deferred contingent consideration) and is one of the exclusive portfolio projects being developed by subsidiaries and associates of Gresham House for sale to GRID.
Gresham House, through its wholly owned subsidiary Gresham House Devco Limited and associate Noriker Power Ltd, made £1.7 million of equity and loan investments in the Project. This investment will return an initial net gain on sale of approximately £1.8 million (after contractual and expected payments and transaction fees), of which £0.8 million will be received within the next twelve months. A further net deferred payment of up to £0.3 million, which is conditional on performance, could be payable in up to twelve months’ time.
The investment in the Project is consistent with exceeding Gresham House’s 15% return on balance sheet capital threshold over the medium term. After this sale, Gresham House has an exposure of £3.6 million in the remaining battery storage development projects it has funded, which are in exclusivity with GRID and a further 50MW disposal is expected to complete during 2020. Gresham House continues to build and develop a pipeline of projects that are expected to be transferred to GRID in 2020 and beyond.
Tony Dalwood, Chief Executive of Gresham House, said:
“It is pleasing to see GRID’s expansion continue with this acquisition, alongside the financial gain to Gresham House shareholders from the development capital investment. As previously demonstrated, we will use our balance sheet where appropriate to scale our long-term asset management capability in renewable infrastructure.
This is another example of our ongoing commitment to investing in sustainable, resilient assets that deliver long-term value for our clients and exceed return hurdles for shareholders.”
