Bluefield Solar completes refinancing deal
By Josh White
Date: Monday 24 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - Bluefield Solar Income Fund announced on Monday that it has completed a refinancing deal as part of its ongoing efforts to manage debt and recycle capital within its 359 MW solar photovoltaic portfolio, jointly owned with GLIL Infrastructure.
The company said the transaction, finalised in January with a consortium of lenders, replaced around £214m of existing inflation-linked debt with about £297m of fixed-rate debt at an all-in rate of 5.8%, modestly increasing the overall cost of debt to roughly 3.8% from 3.4% as of September 2024.
It said the new debt, maturing in December 2035, aligned with the subsidy period for the underlying assets.
The portfolio comprised 69 solar PV projects, with a mix of 183MW backed by feed-in tariff subsidies, 128MW secured by renewable obligation certificates, and 48MW operating on a merchant basis.
As part of the refinancing, the company raised £21m, which, together with proceeds from the previously-completed sale of 112 MW of solar capacity as part of its strategic partnership with GLIL in September 2024, had resulted in around £89m of recycled capital since the inception of the partnership in January.
Proceeds from the asset sale had been deployed across several strategic initiatives.
To date, £50.5m had been used to reduce a portion of the revolving credit facility, £10.6m had supported the share buyback programme, and further investments of £6.2m and £1.5m had been allocated to the construction of Mauxhall and the development pipeline, as well as to capital expenditure works on the operating portfolio, respectively.
The allocation left £40m - along with carried forward reserves of £20.3m from the 2024 financial year - available for continued debt repayments, further development of the project pipeline, or potential future share buyback programmes following the completion of the original £20m allocation in January.
Phase three of the strategic partnership with GLIL, which involves the prospective sale of a limited portion of Bluefield Solar's ready-to-build pipeline, was currently underway.
Following the refinancing, the company's total debt stood at £588m, with a revolving credit facility balance of £133.5m, while its leverage remained at 44% of gross asset value based on the latest reported unaudited net asset value as of September.
"We have worked closely with GLIL and our lenders to complete this refinancing at an attractive price, enabling further capital to be returned to the company to support future RCF repayments and allowing the continued funding of the company's highly attractive development pipeline," said chairman John Scott.
The company said it would release its interim results on 27 February.
At 1104 GMT, shares in Bluefield Solar Income Fund were up 0.37% at 86.32p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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