NextEnergy Solar Fund has refinanced its existing £135m short-term revolving credit facility RCF with AIB Group and NatWest.

The facility had been due to expire in June this year.

NextEnergy Solar Fund, a specialist solar energy and energy storage investment company, is listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange and is a FTSE 250 constituent. At the end of 2023, the company had an unaudited gross asset value of £1.2bn.

The new facility is available until June 2026 and will provides two additional 12-month extension options at NextEnergy’s sole discretion to bring the maturity date up to June 2028.

NextEnergy said the RCF continues to benefit from attractive terms with a margin of 120 basis points over the Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA). The banking consortium consists of the company’s existing counterparties AIB Group and NatWest in addition to a new counterparty Lloyds.

The firm is also on track to exercise its option to extend its current £70m RCF with Santander for another 12 months until June 2025 on similar terms, and ahead of its June 2024 expiry. NextEnergy confirmed it will provide a further update to the market in due course.

“We are pleased to have secured similar terms on NextEnergy Solar Fund's primary RCF,” COO and head of UK investments at NextEnergy Capital, Ross Grier, said. “As we have previously indicated, we continue to observe significant lender interest in providing debt to the solar infrastructure sector across the geographies we are active in.

“This refinancing demonstrates lenders’ continued appetite to provide facilities against utility-scale solar assets in the UK on attractive terms. NextEnergy Solar Fund maintains a disciplined approach to its capital structure and the sale of assets within the current capital recycling programme remain a key priority for the company, the proceeds of which will be used to pay down existing RCF borrowings.”

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