Press Release

Foresight’s Italian Green Bond Fund achieves first close at €70 million

Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”) is pleased to announce the first close of the Foresight Italian Green Bond Fund (“The Fund”) at €70 million.
Emiliano Bellini

The Fund represents a number of firsts:

  • The Fund is the first infrastructure debt fund raised by Foresight.
  • The Fund is the first international institutional fund supported by Foresight’s specialist international infrastructure team.
  • The Fund is the first dedicated infrastructure project bond fund in the Italian Market.

The Fund has generated strong appeal amongst banks, insurance companies and family offices with support at first close from leading financial institutions including the European Investment Bank under the Juncker Plan (European Fund for Strategic Investments “EFSI”)), and top tier Italian insurance companies, banking institutions and family offices.

The Fund will target small and medium projects in renewable energy generation – including solar, wind, Waste–to-Energy (“WtE”), biomass and Anaerobic Digestion (“AD”) and energy efficiency –  including public lighting, cogeneration and district heating.

These projects typically have a debt capacity in the range of €5 million to €15 million and the pipeline of potential investments for the Fund is strong due to the fact that this niche Italian market is not currently served by banks or other sources.

The Fund is targeting a final close of €200 million with an anticipated second close by the end of 2018.

Bonds which are rated investment grade will be fully underwritten by the Fund, fully amortising, and listed on the Milan stock exchange in the ExtraMot Pro segment and will target returns of between 6% and 8%.

It is expected that the Fund will complete its first investment before end of q1 2018.