Cubico buys T-Solar for €1.5bn

From pv magazine Spain

Canada-based Cubico, an infrastructure vehicle owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) and created by Banco Santander and the insurer PSP, has acquired Spanish solar asset owner and developer T-Solar for €1.5 billion.

U.S. venture capital manager I-Squared had asked Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for T-Solar more than a year ago but the operation was postponed to refinance its debt in an attempt to maximize its value. In October, the company had been valued at €1.6 billion but I Squared requested new offers after the company halted several projects that were under development. 

Initially, I-Squared received about 10 bids, including those made by Spanish energy company Naturgy; Chinese state conglomerate China Three Gorges, which recently opened a subsidiary in Spain; and a consortium formed by the Canadian pension fund CPPIB and Q-Energy.

T-Solar owns and operates 47 assets with an installed capacity of 274 MW throughout Spain – of which 167 MW are photovoltaic – as well as 7 MW of photovoltaic solar energy in Italy plus a portfolio of solar projects under development of around 1.4 GW.

The acquisition will bring Cubico's installed solar capacity in Spain to 440 MW. The company recently refinanced the 50 MW Arenales concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Morón de la Frontera, Seville, and acquired, at the end of last year, the Spanish company Luzentia Promoción y Mantenimiento Renovable.