Astris is pleased to announce the signing of the Alexandra transaction, consisting in the sale of the 33.33% stake held by investment funds managed by KKR in Acciona Energía Internacional (“AEI”).

AEI was established in 2014 and is a partnership between KKR and Acciona. It holds a portfolio of 52 onshore wind and solar assets in operation with a net installed capacity of 2.3 GW. The projects are spread over 11 countries and operate under a broad range of remuneration regimes.

The highly competitive process launched in 2019 resulted in the selection of AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets (“AXA IM - Real Assets”) and Acciona S.A. (“Acciona”) to acquire KKR’s participation in AEI. Under the terms of the agreement reached on April 10, 2020, AXA IM - Real Assets will acquire 20% of AEI while Acciona will buy the remaining 13.33%, increasing its stake from 66.67% to 80%.

Astris acted as co-financial advisor to KKR with Credit Suisse and Lazard. Astris was notably in charge of valuation, modeling and due diligence coordination.

This demanding transaction involved different teams across Astris’ offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas working seamlessly on the complex valuation exercise given the structure of the AEI portfolio, including its broad geographical diversification, technology mix, and multi-currency cash flows.

Closing of the transaction is expected to take place in December 2020 after completing regulatory approvals.

Tara Davies, Head of European Infrastructure at KKR, commented: “We chose Astris to advise us on this transaction due to their technical expertise, in-depth knowledge of the global renewable energy markets and their trusted advice. We would like to thank Astris for their help and guidance.”

This is the fifth renewable energy transaction announced by Astris Finance in Europe in the past three months – and the third since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in March, demonstrating the firm’s ability to find creative and insightful solutions for its clients under challenging circumstances.

Source photos: Acciona