- Offers investors a pure exposure to the renewable energy asset class
- Target area for projects:
Germany
- Final closing expected by the end of 2010
Berlin, July 20th, 2010 – Greenvironment plc
(GIV), with the support of its major shareholder Cheyne Renewable Energy Fund L.P.
(http://cheynecapital.com), is launching a project financing fund. Final closing of the fund raising is
expected by the end of this year with a target size of 20 million Euro.
The fund will directly
invest into new cogeneration heat and power plants (CHP) established by GIV and utilising Capstone
microturbine technology for electricity generation mainly from biogas. This innovative fund should offer
investors an efficient way to invest in an asset class that has historically provided steady cash flows
with tax advantages. The investment objective of the project financing fund is to provide a high level
of total return with an emphasis on cash distributions.
In Germany, for example, at the end of 2007
there were more than 4,000 operating biogas plants with nominal capacity of 1,270 MW of electricity, and
this capacity to produce electricity from biogas is expected to reach 3,000 MW by the year 2020. More
and more countries in Europe are introducing favourable feed-in tariffs as well as other grants, tax
benefits and subsidies intended to encourage the production of renewable energy from biogas. The
renewable energy industry has been less affected than many other industries during the recent economic
recession and is seen as one of the most promising growth sectors of the world’s economy.
Matti
Malkamäki, CEO of Greenvironment plc, commented: “The official target of the German government is to
increase the share of CHP to 25% of total power production. We are aiming to capitalize on this with a
“build, own & operate” business model in joint ventures with local municipal utilities in Germany. The
GIV project financing fund will enable investors to enter the lucrative German biogas market and will
help us to accelerate our German business on a large scale. Moreover, we’ve seen strong investor
interest in this kind of direct investments in Poland so our plan is to establish further funds for our
businesses in Eastern Europe in the near future.”
Henry Whittaker of Cheyne Capital and former
Greenvironment board member, said: “We’ve seen interest among investors not only to invest in the equity
of Greenvironment but also to invest directly in biogas projects and thereby gain pure exposure to this
attractive asset class. This fund is a natural way for investors to benefit from the growth in the
German biogas market through direct ownership of the plants themselves. From an investor's perspective,
Greenvironment’s know-how and ability to monitor, operate and control biogas CHP plants make this fund a
very attractive proposition. We look forward to the establishment of this fund and working with
Greenvironment to drive the success of this endeavour.”
About Cheyne Capital
Cheyne Capital is
one of Europe's leading alternative asset managers. Cheyne launched its first fund in 2000 and today
manages net assets of approximately 4.5 billion USD across a diversified suite of products. Cheyne
currently employs approximately 150 people with its primary offices in the UK, Switzerland and
Bermuda.
About Greenvironment
Greenvironment is a European company active in the decentralized
energy generation market and plans, builds and operates cogeneration heat and power plants (CHP)
utilising microturbine technology. The company offers CHP plants in a power range of 30 kWel to 1 MWel
and is a market leader in the use of innovative microturbine technology in electricity generation from
biogas and natural gas.
Microturbines benefit from high availability, low maintenance requirements,
low emissions, favourable EEG and KWKG bonus compensation and flexible heat utilization. All
Greenvironment CHP plants are operated by a highly efficient centralized process management system at
the operations centre in Berlin. See also: www.greenvironment.com.
For further information:
Matti
Malkamäki
CEO Greenvironment plc
Tel.: +49 (0)30 20 65 879 - 0
Fax: +49 (0)30 20 65 879 - 19
E-Mail:
IR@greenvironment.com
Legal Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements
based on beliefs of Greenvironment management. When used in this press release, words such as
"anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "plan" and "project" are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the views of Greenvironment as of the date made with
respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual
results to be materially different from those projected here, including, among others, changes in
general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates,
introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in
business strategy. Greenvironment disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking
statements.
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