Renewable finance arranger secures GBP 90m climate investment partnership with Investec
Prestige Funds’ dedicated, specialist finance arranger – Privilege Finance has entered into a long-term partnership with Investec Bank plc (“Investec”) which will release up to GBP 90m worth of funds for UK climate change projects with approximately GBP 30m already arranged to date.
The funding will be offered to existing anaerobic digestion (AD) plant customers to refinance their projects as they hit operations, providing interest savings to borrowers and freeing up Privilege Finance’s capital to be reinvested, accelerating the deployment of new funding for new climate change projects.
Established in 2001, Privilege Finance has deployed more than GBP 500m to build 40 AD facilities. These generate a combination of renewable electricity, heat and biomethane gas to produce over 3.5gw of energy per day.
Stefan Rattensperger, from Investec’s power and infrastructure finance team, commented: “By using the funds from Investec to refinance projects after the initial project finance phase, Privilege Finance will be able to redeploy the money to allow investment in additional renewable energy or carbon reduction projects.”
Privilege Finance acts as the loan arranger for several Prestige Funds in the fast-growing AD power sector in the UK. An estimated million plus UK homes now receive green energy from plants that have been financed by Privilege. AD technology is an important part of the UK’s strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Andrew Vernau, chief financial Officer at Privilege, added: “AD technology is proven and well-established, but mainstream banks still view it as a relatively new concept in the wider renewables sector. It’s therefore incredibly encouraging to see it supported by a major financial institution like Investec who understands the reliability of the technology and has successfully structured and arranged financings in the sector.”
Privilege Finance manages several portfolios of loans for Prestige Funds including project finance for AD plants and broader loans within the UK agriculture sector and rural business economy. It has built up a pool of technical expertise to support the financing and ongoing project management support for AD plants in the UK.
Craig Reeves, founder of Prestige Funds, commented: “Privilege Finance is an essential part of our overall private debt management strategy and has helped to generate consistent, uncorrelated returns for investors that are interested in the developing AD and biogas story within the UK. With mounting concerns globally about carbon emissions and climate change, the work being done by the Privilege team, on the ground, is more important than ever.”