Business

Private Equity Firm Wants To Take Over Spain’s Solarpack

Anu Bhambhani
  • Solarpack has received a complete takeover bid offer from Swedish private equity firm EQT Infrastructure
  • It values the company at €881 million by pricing each share at €26.50, 45% more than its closing price on June 15, 2021
  • Solarpack is seeking its board's approval to constitute a committee to review the offer

Spanish solar power developer and independent power producer Solarpack has received a takeover offer from Swedish private equity firm EQT Infrastructure that has made a voluntary bid to acquire the company valuing it at around €881 million ($1.06 billion), pricing each share at €26.50.

This per share price is 45% more than the closing price of Solarpack shares on June 15, 2021 at €18.28. EQT has bid for Solarpack through its special purpose company Veleta BidCo S.a.r.l. It has secured irrevocable agreements with 50.957% stakeholders in Solarpack—Beraunberri, Landa and Burgest— to sell their full stake to EQT.

Completion of the takeover bid is pending corporate consents and regulatory approvals.

"With this transaction, EQT Infrastructure V is expected to be 30-35 percent invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication) based on its target fund size, and subject to customary regulatory approvals," stated EQT that has more than €67 billion in assets under management distributed across 26 active funds. It was launched in 1994 by Investor AB, part of the Wallenberg family.

Solarpack said it plans to constitute a committee to monitor the takeover bid after securing the company board's approval.

Reuters noted that following the EQT announcement, Solarpack's share prices jumped up 43%, and that the offer highlights growing demand from investors for businesses that can help shift economies away from fossil fuels and fight climate change.

Spread mainly in 8 nations, primarily Spain, Chile and India, Solarpack's solar power capacity adds up to around 1.3 GW, of which it owns and operates 450 MW. By the end of 2023, it aims to achieve 1.8 GW to 2.0 GW of installed or under construction capacity by the end of 2023, growing it to a total of 4 GW by the end of 2026. In March 2021, it counted its under development capacity to a total of 8.1 GW to be built for an investment worth €1.5 billion to €2 billion.

In January 2020, EQT and Temasek of Singapore committed $500 million for a new India focused renewable energy platform O2 Power targeting over 4 GW installed large scale solar, wind and hybrid power capacity (see New Renewable Energy Platform For India Launched).