J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Sonnedix announce that institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management have joined Sonnedix’s management and shareholders in a new 50/50 joint venture platform company, Sonnedix Power Holdings, to pursue opportunities in the attractive, rapidly expanding global solar market.
The joint venture platform currently operates 17 power plants with 117MW of installed capacity across France, Italy, Spain, Thailand and Puerto Rico. It also has a portfolio of 18 projects representing over 600MW of projects in pre-construction stages in Japan, Puerto Rico, Chile, UK and South Africa. The joint venture anticipates a total commitment for the operating and development projects of more than €300 million.
Speaking about the partnership, Matt LeBlanc, CIO of OECD Infrastructure at J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets, said, “These are exciting times in the clean energy market and Sonnedix’s experienced management team, highly focused on execution and operations, is well positioned to benefit from technology improvements, operational efficiencies and economies of scale. These trends result in a lower cost of solar PV energy as compared to conventional fossil fuels, even with the current energy market volatility. As such the operating investments are already generating consistent and growing investment yields, supported by long-term contracts.”
Carlos Guinand, Chairman and Director of Sonnedix, said, “As the global solar power industry experiences exceptional growth rates, we are keen to expand further our footprint across multiple regulatory regimes that are at different phases of renewable integration. Our joint venture with J.P. Morgan Asset Management will be integral in capturing these opportunities and building our platform.”
Pan American Finance, Paul Hastings and Mayer Brown advised Sonnedix in the transaction. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom acted as legal advisor to J.P. Morgan Asset Management.