Second wind farm investment

2 Aug 2005 10:32

HG Capital Trust PLC02 August 2005 The following is the text of a press release issued by HgCapital, which managesthe investment portfolio of HgCapital Trust plc alongside those of otherclients. The trust, which participates in all of HgCapital's investments, hascommitted €0.8 million to Sorne Wind Limited. The funds are expected to be drawnby April 2006. HgCapital announces second wind farm investment in eight months London, 2 August 2005. HgCapital the European sector-focused private equityinvestor, has invested in Sorne Wind Limited, which has developed and isconstructing the 32MW Sorne Hill wind farm in County Donegal, Ireland. It isHgCapital's second wind farm investment in less than a year, following itsacquisition of the Tir Mostyn wind farm in North Wales in December 2004. The TirMostyn site is in the final stages of construction and will commence fulloperation in October as scheduled. The transaction continues HgCapital'sstrategy of building a portfolio of renewable energy assets across WesternEurope. Tom Murley, a director at HgCapital and head of the Renewable Energy team, said:"We are very pleased to become a partner in Sorne Wind. Sorne will capitaliseon the dual advantages of the area's superior wind resources and state of theart equipment from Enercon, the global leader in wind power technology. Thiscontinues our strategy of investing in quality wind and renewable energyprojects in Europe. We foresee further investments over the coming months." The Sorne Hill project will consist of 16 Enercon E77 turbines, with a totalcapacity of 32MWs. When operational from May 2006, the wind farm will generateenough power annually to light over 20,000 homes and will save approximately60,000 tonnes a year in greenhouse gas emissions measured against equivalentfossil fuel generation. The project will sell electricity to Bord Gais under along-term contract. HgCapital, together with Sorne Wind's founders and developers - Michael Rouseand John Ward, and a new investor, Seamus MacRory, provided the equity capitalto purchase the shares from two other founding shareholders to complete theconstruction of the wind farm. In addition to HgCapital and sponsor equity, the Sorne Hill project is beingfinanced by a construction and term loan facility arranged and underwritten byIIB Bank and KBC Bank. HgCapital was advised by AL Goodbody and Deloitte. - ends - Enquiries: HgCapitalTom Murley +44 (0)20 7089 7962 tom.murley@hgcapital.net MaitlandSuzanne Bartch +44 (0)20 7379 5151 sbartch@maitland.co.ukPeter Ogden pogden@maitland.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange