$500 million has been raised for a European fund – the Ampere Equity Fund – that focuses on renewable energy projects.
This novel fund was created by a project developer to fund it’s own portfolio. It will invest in projects developed by Evelop, which is a subsidiary of Dutch clean energy firm, Econcern.
The portfolio has been largely identified. If a project meets the fund’s predetermined criteria, the fund will take an equity position.
Dutch pension giants ABP and PGGM have made cornerstone investments, and Rabobank and Delta Lloyd, and others have also invested. The fund currently stands at Euro 350 million ($500 million). Envelop expects to raise Euro 500 million by year end when the fund will close.
70% of the fund’s assets will be invested in Western Europe wind farms, both onshore and offshore, and 30% will be invested in biomass generation, although it will also consider solar.
“With KPMG Corporate Finance we have developed a model for this fund that enables us to reach a decision about new projects very quickly,” he said. “That speed will give us an enormous advantage in the market. Our objective for the next few years is to develop and implement 4,000 to 5,000MW of sustainable energy.”
Evelop plans to launch other funds to reach its targets. The Ampere fund will get them about a quarter of the way there.
Over the funds five-year life it is expected to generate slightly higher returns than typical infrastructure funds, which generate 10-12% a year.
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