Spruce Finance, a large private owner and operator of distributed generation solar and residential energy assets in the U.S., has closed a $124 million debt financing deal for its portfolio of residential solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) and leases with Vantage Infrastructure and Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund (SEQI).
The funds will provide a significant capital boost to Spruce’s M&A and organic growth objectives, as well as pay off an existing loan on its solar rooftop assets. In addition, the funds will be invested in corporate initiatives to provide enhanced customer service and experiences for the tens of thousands of solar homeowners under contract with Energy Services Experts (ESE), Spruce’s customer and asset servicing subsidiary.
“To raise $124 million in debt financing in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis is not only a remarkable vote of confidence in Spruce from Vantage Infrastructure and Sequoia Investment Management, but also an affirmation of distributed solar as a sought-after asset class by the capital markets in general,” said Christian Fong, CEO of Spruce Finance. “The benefits of this new capital infusion will be seen nearly immediately, as we work toward acquiring additional solar portfolio acquisitions in the near future, and further scale up customer service.”
“Several years ago, our team identified residential solar financing as a compelling investment opportunity for our clients. Investing in this space meets our responsibility to support the low carbon energy transition delivering positive environmental and social outcomes,” said Nick Cleary, Partner with Vantage Infrastructure. “As one of the first institutional investors in the distributed solar sector, we remain active in this space and are very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Spruce team to support the growth of their successful approach to rooftop solar asset acquisition and management, and their in-house, customer-centric operational capabilities through ESE.”
Legal counsel was provided by Troutman Sanders for Spruce and by Norton Rose Fulbright for the lenders. Key Bank Capital Markets served as financial adviser.
— Solar Builder magazine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.