Case Study – Transaction ISLASOL
Project Results & Case-Studies
Negros Island Solar Power Inc. - The sale of the solar powerplants ISLASOL I and II
ThomasLloyd CTI Asia Holdings Pte Ltd – a subsidiary of ThomasLloyd SICAV-SIF-Cleantech Infrastructure Fund – sold on 14 September 2015 its 90% economic rights in operating company, Negros Island Solar Power Inc. (ISLASOL) to the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (PINAI). The sale included the 32 MWp solar facility ISLASOL I at La Carlota City and the 48 MWp solar facility ISLASOL II in Manapla, both in Negros Occidental, Philippines. At the time of sale, both facilities, previously known as SaCaSol II and SaCaSol III, were still in construction.
THE TRANSACTION
In April 2014 , development commenced on the first phase (ISLASOL I A) for an 18MWp plant at La Carlota City. Following the first output simulation and site survey, the project was expanded to include a second phase (ISLASOL I B) of 14MWp.
Realising this transaction will allow ThomasLloyd to accelerate its investment into other renewable energy technologies within the Philippines and once again to collaborate with PINAI, with whom it had been a pleasure to work. We are proud as the first enabling investor to have addressed the government call for private investment in the sector.
Purchaser: PINAI
The purchaser of SaCaSol, the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (PINAI), is a closed-end fund, which was established jointly by the institutional investors GSIS, APG and Macquarie, in order to invest in the rapidly-expanding infrastructure market of the Philippines. The fund had its first and final close in July 2012, raising PHP 26 billion (USD 633,605,458) of commitments. The manager of the fund is Macquarie Infrastructure Management (Asia) Pty Limited Singapore Branch (MIMAL), a member of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA).
Leading infrastructure investors
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippines
GSIS is the state social insurance institute for the Philippines, which was established in 1936 as part of the Common Wealth Act. It is responsible for the pension entitlements of government employees, and has a reported balance sheet total of over USD 20 billion at the end of the last financial year.
Asian Development Bank (ADB), Philippines
The Asian Development Bank is a multilateral development bank established 1966 which is headquartered in Manila, Philippines to promote social and economic development in Asia. As social development organization ADB is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. More than 50 financing partnership facilities, trust funds, and other funds – totalling several billion each year – are administered by ADB and put toward projects that promote social and economic development in Asia and the Pacific.
Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings Philippines PTE Ltd., Philippines
Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings belongs to Macquarie Group Limited whose head office is in Sydney. With over 13,000 employees, the company is the largest infrastructure asset manager in the world, with branches in the world's major financial centres. Macquarie currently manages assets of c. USD 375 billion.
Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG), Netherlands
The APG (Algemene Pensioen Groep) from the Netherlands is one of the largest pension funds in the world and manages the pension assets of 4.5 million Dutch nationals. The investment was made by a wholly-owned subsidiary established especially for the purpose of the stake in PINAI, Langoer Investments Holding B.V. APG, in 2013 alone, invested over EUR 15 billion in sustainable investments.
ISLASOL: Project details
Impressions
From “greenfield” project to utility-scale operational solar plant
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Social Impact
The sale of the first solar power plants is a benchmark transaction for finance, social responsibility, and energy sustainability in the region. It is therefore also a benchmark for the vertical integration of infrastructure projects.
Firstly, the plants produce necessary required sustainably- and locally-generated electricity on Negros Island, not only for its major regional cities, but rural areas too. They allow the emergence of industrial and commercial centres, power machines in the factories and workshops thus make a vital contribution to economic development on Negros. They also bring light into schools and hospitals, provide the option to store food and keep it cool, and enable modern communication, thus opening up access to knowledge and education.
Secondly, the construction and operation of the plants has brought work into a region previously dominated by agriculture, with the exponential effect that, due to the additional purchasing power, further jobs have been created in the regional economy, in manual trades, in business and in the services sector. Looking back on the investments made to date and assessing these, the follow-up investments in downstream industries are particularly striking. When a local motorbike dealer sells 600 small motorbikes in just a few months, generating an increase in turnover of several thousand percent, as newly appointed workers want to use these to get to work on our solar building site, the macroeconomic benefits are very clear. New mobility creates opportunities to find work, export prosperity even to remote regions and trigger follow-on investment. For ThomasLloyd, this is an intended side effect of our sustainable investments.
Consequently, in the period of around two years between project acquisition and sale of the power plant, not only have the aims of ThomasLloyd investors been achieved, but also a significant and sustainable improvement to the living conditions of the local people.
ENERGY TO GO
An expression of the integrated responsibility in our Asian investment locations is a social commitment, such as through the provision of electricity to schools via small-scale solar plants, since electricity is the key to education and security. Our pilot project at Camaniagan Elementary School close to San Carlos City, Philippines: 24 solar panels with a nominal output of 6,000 watt peaks (Wp) provide sustainably-generated electricity in the classrooms. However, the benefits go way beyond educational interests: The pupils charge solar lamps provided by ThomasLloyd from a large rechargeable battery, which stores surplus electricity, and take these lamps home with them.
Film about the project
Summary
With the sale of ISLASOL I & II as a second transaction, ThomasLloyd secured one of the largest M&A deals in the solar sector in Asia in 2015. The two transactions together for a total installed capacity of 125 MWp. This is equivalent to 25% of the total Feed-in-Tarif I and II allocation in the Philippines.
The sale of ISLASOL I & II also stands for the compatibility of the economic interests of our investors and the requirements of the local people with regard to continuing development of the region, based on sustainable, environmentally-compatible electricity supply and its associated prosperity. It clearly emphasises the ThomasLloyd motto:
„Invest where your money makes the difference“
Outstanding Project Awards
Asian Power Awards
SaCaSol I has won a highly prestigious silver Asian Power Award 2014 in the Solar Power Project of the Year category in the annual “Oscars” of the power industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hosted by leading Asian media group Charlton Media.
Green Company of the Year 2014
Asia CEO Forum has honoured San Carlos Solar Energy Inc., the solar power holding company of the ThomasLloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund, with the Green Company of the Year award.
IFC Sustainable Energy Finance Award
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has awarded this year’s Sustainable Energy Finance Award to San Carlos Solar Energy Inc.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award
San Carlos Solar Energy, Inc. has been presented with the Best Practices Award 2014 in the Philippines Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System Integrator of the Year category.
