GE Energy Financial Services,
a unit of GE (NYSE: GE), and Grupo Corporativo Landon announced today they will invest
about US$350 million in Fotowatio, one of Spain’s largest solar power project developers.
Fotowatio owns, operates and is developing
almost 960 megawatts (MW) of solar projects in the fast-growing solar power markets of Spain,
Italy and the United States.
Existing investors in Fotowatio comprise investment fund
Qualitas Venture Capital and Fotowatio’s management.
“By facilitating the growth of one of the solar industry’s leading developers, this investment
gives us immediate access to attractive solar markets in Europe and the United States and
will form an important part of GE’s broader strategy to become a major player in solar
power,” said Alex Urquhart, President and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services.
Fotowatio’s portfolio includes almost 60 MW in operation in the Spanish towns of
Trujillo, Arroyo de San Serván and Olmedilla de Alarcón; and more than 900 MW of
projects in development in Spain, Italy and the United States.
Fotowatio uses solar
photovoltaic technology, as well as concentrated
solar power technology, which uses mirrors and tracking systems to focus sunlight into a
heat source for use in a conventional steam turbine.
GE Energy Financial Services will invest US $235 million in equity and
convertible debt to acquire 32% and Grupo Corporativo Landon, a family-owned
Spanish holding company with diversified investments, will invest US $118 million in equity to acquire 17.5% of a new holding company, Fotowatio SL. The
existing Spanish investors will own the remaining 50.5%: Qualitas Venture Capital—a
GE
Energy Financial Services
fund managed by Qualitas Equity Partners and invested in by Timón SA—will own 33.5% , and Fotowatio’s management will own 17 %.
Andrew Marsden, Managing Director for Europe at GE Energy Financial Services, said “This
investment will contribute to GE Energy Financial Services’ goals of investing US $6 billion
in renewable energy worldwide by 2010 as well as US $5 billion outside the US by 2010.”
The GE unit announced earlier this month that it had just crossed the US $4 billion mark in
renewable energy investments.
About Fotowatio
Fotowatio, based in Madrid with offices in Italy and Washington, DC, is one of the leading
Spanish promoters of renewable energy. It was created in 2004 to respond to the ambitious
renewable energy targets set by the Kyoto Protocol. Fotowatio is focusing on achieving
sustainable growth that respects the environment, through action and innovation in the
renewable energy sector, concentrating its main activities on solar energy.
About Grupo Corporativo Landon
The Landon Corporate Group, chaired by D. Antonio Gallardo Ballart, and belonging to the
Gallardo Family—major shareholders of the pharmaceutical company Laboratorios
Almirall—is a private wealth management holding company whose activities include
investment in real estate, financial investment, business investment in companies, private
equity activities by its venture capital company Landon Investments, as well as
entrepreneurial diversification projects.
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