Mercom Capital: $3.2 billion total corporate funding for solar raised in Q1

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The latest corporate financing report from Mercom Capital Group shows that solar downstream companies took the largest chunk of corporate funding for solar in the first quarter of 2017, raising $548 million in nine venture capital deals, from a total of 60 deals worth $3.2 billion.

Indian IPP Renew Power was among the quarter’s most active companies, securing a $390 million financing package from the Asian Development Bank, to fund several PV projects in India. The company also raised $200 million in VC funding from JERA, a joint venture of Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power.

On top of the $390 million raised by Renew Power, First Solar obtained $241 million in non-recourse project debt from Mizuho Bank, for the 59.5 MW Ishikawa Sogo project in Japan, Next Energy Solar Fund secured a $188 million deal to refinance 241 MW of projects solar. 33 large scale project funding deals were made in Q1 2017 for a total $2.69 billion, says Mercom Capital Group.

Data from Mercom shows that M&A transactions in Q1 amounted to $4.7 billion, from 29 transactions. The largest of these was AES & Alberta Investment Management’s acquisition of FTP Power for $853 million cash and the assumption of $724 million in non-recourse debt.

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Brookfield Asset management conducted two M&A transactions, acquiring solar yieldco TerraForm Global, a subsidiary of bankrupt SunEdison, for around $787 million cash, as well as a 51% stake in TerraForm Power for a further $622 million.

Recently privatized Trina Solar merged with Fortune Solar and Red Viburnum Company, the company was then acquired in a management buyout by an investor consortium led by Chairman and CEO Jifan Gao.

One solar IPO took place in the quarter, in January Clenergy Technology raised $55 million listing on the Shanghai Stock exchange.

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