Funding and M&A Roundup Battery Storage Company Zenobe Secures £241 Million Debt

Zenobe Energy (formerly Battery Energy Storage Solutions), a developer, operator, and owner of battery storage assets in the U.K., has secured a multi-source debt structure of £241 million (~$326.2 million) to accelerate the expansion of the electric vehicle leet sector. The funding platform advised by NatWest takes total debt support from financial institutions in the UK to over £300 million (~$406.1 million).

TotalEnergies, a French oil and gas major, has signed a definitive agreement with SunPower to purchase its Commercial & Industrial Solutions business for $250 million, including $60 million of the earn-out subject to regulatory evolution. TotalEnergies is the majority shareholder of SunPower, a solar technology and energy services provider.

RES, a UK-based independent renewable energy developer, has acquired Australia-based Blueshore, which offers commercial, technical, and financial asset management services for solar and wind energy assets. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Blueshore also offers portfolio management services to investors in the Australian market. The company currently has 1.6 GW of assets under management in the country.

Allumia, an Energy Efficiency-as-a-Service (EaaS) technology platform, raised $7.5 million in Series A2 funding. Existing investor JW Asset Management led the financing round with participation from American Electric Power and Duke Investments. The company plans to use the new funds to accelerate the development of its EaaS technology platform for large-scale deployment for commercial and industrial customers.

Reliance New Energy Solar Limited, the green energy arm of Reliance Industries, has completed the 40% stake acquisition in Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Limited. Reliance acquired the stake through a primary investment, a secondary purchase, and an open offer. On February 9, 2022, Reliance had purchased 19.66 million Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy shares in an off-market deal.

Cologne-based start-up Sunvigo raised €15 million (~$17 million) in the latest financing round. Sparta Capital and Eneco, which provide the largest share in the financing, are investing €10 million (~$11.4 million) with existing investors Ecosummit, High-Tech Grunderfonds, and Ubermorgen Ventures. Deutsche Kreditbank AG is providing a further €5 million (~$ 5.6 million) in debt capital.

Ion Storage Systems (ION), a manufacturer of high energy density, solid-state lithium metal batteries, closed an initial $30 million in Series A funding round. The financing round was led by Clear Creek Investments, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Alsop Louie Partners. As part of the financing agreement, Todd Crescenzo, Founder and Managing Partner at Clear Creek Investments, and Joseph Goodman, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Managing Partner at VoLo Earth Ventures, will join ION’s board of directors.

KBRA has assigned preliminary ratings to three classes of notes issued by Sunnova Helios VII Issuer; Solar Loan Backed Notes, Series 2022-A (Sunnova 2022-A), a $297.9 million residential solar loan ABS transaction. The transaction will be collateralized by approximately $425.6 million of residential solar loans, of which approximately $121.6 million will be funded at closing.

Utilidata, an energy technology company digitizing the grid edge to unleash the full potential of clean energy, has secured $26.75 million in new capital. The round was led by Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), with participation from the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and NVIDIA and existing investors Keyframe Capital, Braemar Energy Ventures, and MUUS Asset Management.

Three subsidiaries of Adani Green Energy, the renewable energy arm of Adani Group – Adani Green Energy (UP), Prayatna Developers, and Parampujya Solar Energy have raised ₹6.123 billion (~$82.04 million) by their maiden domestic bond issuance on a private placement basis. According to the company statement, the rated, listed, secured, and redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of the face value of ₹1 million (~$13,383.55) each, in multiple series, have an average annualized coupon rate of 7.83% per annum, which is significantly lower than existing debt. The NCDs have a tenure of up to ~12 years. The proceeds from the NCDs will be utilized to part-refinance an existing rupee term loan bearing a higher interest cost. The NCDs are rated AA/Stable by CRISIL Limited and AA(CE)/Stable by India Ratings.

Virescent Renewable Energy Trust (VRET), a renewable energy infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) by Virescent Infrastructure, raised ₹6.5 billion (~$87 million) through domestic bond issuance across 7.33-year (₹1.5 billion (~$20 million)) and 10-year (₹5 billion (~$67 million)) tranches. The average quarterly coupon of the bonds is 7.93%, fully fixed for the entire tenor. VRET, backed by KKR, a leading global investment firm, will use the bond proceeds to fund its immediate acquisition-related debt requirements while expanding its portfolio from the existing 450 MWp of operational solar projects. VRET maintains this transaction is the largest single series issuance of ₹5 billion (~$67 million) in a 10-year tenor by a renewable energy company. CRISIL and India Ratings have assigned the bonds a ‘AAA Stable’ rating.

Smart grid technology provider Tantalus Systems has acquired DLC Systems d/b/a Congruitive, a smart grid management solution provider, for a purchase price that includes $8 million of closing consideration and up to $5 million through a two-year earn-out. Congruitive will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tantalus’ U.S. operating subsidiary. Tantalus agreed to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Congruitive according to the terms of a stock purchase agreement. The purchase price was comprised of $8 million of closing consideration in the form of approximately $3.5 million in cash, 869,565 common shares of Tantalus based on a share price of C$1.76 (~$1.38), and the assumption of certain debt on Congruitive’s balance sheet at the time of closing.

AC Energy Corporation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, AC Energy Vietnam Investments (ACEV), and Super Energy Corporation Public Company Limited (SUPER), through its subsidiary, Super Energy Group (Hong Kong), have signed an agreement to form a strategic partnership to develop, own and operate renewable energy projects across ASEAN. ACEV signed a share purchase agreement (with conditions precedent) to acquire a 49% interest of Solar NT, owned by Super HK. SUPER is a Thai renewable energy developer and investor. The transaction will be via secondary shares acquisition for a total consideration of $165 million. Post-restructuring, Solar NT will own and operate nine solar power plants across Vietnam with a total capacity of approximately 837 MW.

Uplift Solar, a manufacturer of smart electronics embeddable inside solar panels, received an investment from The Verte OZ Fund. The investment will support Uplift Solar as they expand their team and revenue.

For reports and trackers on funding and M&A transactions in solar, energy storage, smart grid, and efficiency sectors, click here.

Read last week’s funding roundup.


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