Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, has agreed to invest over USD 200 million as the controlling shareholder in a Taiwanese solar power development platform on behalf of its clients. Cathay Life Insurance, Taiwan’s largest insurer and a subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holdings, is also acquiring a minority stake in the platform through a Partners Group-managed vehicle. The platform has entered into an agreement with Sinogreenergy, a Taiwanese developer of photovoltaic (PV) power plants, to develop a portfolio of up to 550MW of solar power plants across Taiwan over the next three years.
Partners Group and SGE have already sourced a number of sites throughout Taiwan for the development of rooftop and ground-mounted solar plants and have others in due diligence. Once completed, the portfolio will be supported by a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with the state-owned utility. Partners Group and SGE have entered into their development agreement at a time of greatly increased support for the use of solar energy in Taiwan, with the recently elected government stating its intention to triple the solar power installation target from 6.2GW to 20GW by 2025.
Benjamin Haan, Managing Director and Head Private Infrastructure Asia-Pacific, Partners Group, states: “We believe this is a great opportunity to build a sizeable solar power platform in one of Asia’s largest and most sophisticated economies. Our investment comes at an inflection point in the Taiwanese renewable energy sector.”
Andrew Kwok, Senior Vice President, Private Infrastructure Asia-Pacific, Partners Group, adds: “The newly elected government’s solar energy targets coupled with the re-zoning of idle agricultural land for solar ground-mount installation will provide the necessary scale and support for our platform. We look forward to helping the government achieve its commitment to supporting the renewable sector in Taiwan.”
The partnership with SGE will be Partners Group’s third significant solar platform investment in the last two years on behalf of its clients. Earlier in 2016, Partners Group invested USD 100 million in Silicon Ranch Corporation, a US developer, owner and operator of solar power production facilities. In 2014, the firm invested in Japan Solar, a solar platform established to build utility-scale solar power plants across Japan. In addition to these transactions, Partners Group has made three other solar sector investments globally since 2010 on behalf of its clients. The transaction in Taiwan is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016, subject to the fulfillment of certain closing conditions.
About Partners Group
Partners Group is a global private markets investment management firm with over EUR 49 billion (USD 55 billion) in investment programs under management in private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt. The firm manages a broad range of customized portfolios for an international clientele of institutional investors.
Partners Group is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and has offices in San Francisco, Denver, Houston, New York, São Paulo, London, Guernsey, Paris, Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Manila, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm employs over 850 people and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (symbol: PGHN) with a major ownership by its partners and employees.
About Sinogreenergy
Founded in 2012, Sinogreenergy is a leading developer and operator of solar PV power plants in Taiwan. The company is led by an experienced team of PV professionals and has developed over 70MW of solar power projects since inception. With patented technology, the company has a track record of managing hundreds of distributed solar PV power plants with superior performance, on behalf of its clients.
About Cathay Life Insurance
Founded in 1962, Cathay Life Insurance is Taiwan’s largest insurer in terms of both market share and total assets. Establishing subsidiaries in China and Vietnam in 2005 and 2008, respectively, Cathay Life Insurance became the first Taiwan insurer with a presence in these two markets. With more than 7.9 million customers, Cathay Life Insurance is not only a premium brand in the minds of consumers, but has also won the recognition of professional institutions at home and abroad.
