Zouk Capital sells second UK residential solar PV portfolio to Aviva Investors

Aviva Investors and Zouk Capital are pleased to announce the acquisition by Aviva Investors of a second portfolio of residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems totalling 11.3MW and installed on over 3,700 properties across the UK from Zouk’s first infrastructure fund, Zouk Solar Opportunities Ltd (ZSOL). Aviva Investors acquired the first portfolio of 8.6MW on over 3,200 properties across the UK in July 2013. This brings the total size of the two transactions to circa 20MW on 7,000 properties with a value of approximately £76m.
 
The ZSOL portfolio was developed and financed by Zouk over 2011-2014. The investment model enables homeowners and social housing residents to benefit from free use of the electricity generated by the solar PV systems. The systems were installed at no cost to the residents and can reduce household power bills substantially, which helps to relieve many from fuel poverty.
 
Ian Berry, Fund Manager, Infrastructure & Renewable Energy at Aviva Investors said: “As we continue to expand our activities in the European infrastructure market, we see strong interest from clients in opportunities such as this, which combine Aviva Investors’ expertise and innovative approach with the underlying positive features of the assets themselves – reduced energy bills for homeowners and social housing tenants through renewable energy generation. We are delighted to have invested in such high quality infrastructure assets offering attractive yields.”
 
Colin Campbell, Partner, Zouk’s Infrastructure team said: “We are delighted to have completed the sale of the second ZSOL portfolio, one of the largest portfolios of free residential roofs in the UK, to Aviva Investors. These portfolios are an excellent example of why distributed solar PV is such an efficient method of power generation, has a strong carbon benefit and provides fuel poverty relief.”
 
Freetricity, one of the UK’s largest installers of free solar panels, were the solar installer and asset manager of the majority of solar panels involved in the transaction and also sold their interests in the portfolio to Aviva Investors.
 
Advisors on the deal were Clifford Chance (legal) OST Energy (technical) and AgFe (financial) for Aviva Investors and Eversheds (legal) for Zouk Capital.