BaltCap Infrastructure Fund acquires biomass plant in Riga
BaltCap Infrastructure Fund (BInF) has acquired 70% of shares in biomass combined heat and power plant in Riga region from Latvian company AS ENERGOECO. Highly efficient woodchip-fired CHP plant started to operate in October 2017, capital expenditure for building and launching the plant was €17 million. The transaction is expected to close after receiving competition clearance.
The power plant is equipped with 18 MW HoSt Bio Energy Installations high-pressure water tube steam boiler and a 3.98 MW steam turbine. The plant produces electricity and provides heat to Riga district heating system. “We have been following CHP plant development in Acone industrial park for the last two years and saw it as a technologically sound and well-executed project that perfectly fits into our portfolio. With this investment, we will get one step closer to our goal to invest at least 40% of the fund into climate change mitigation projects. This investment becomes increasingly important and urgent in the light of recently published IPCC Special Report on Global Warming,” says Šarūnas Stepukonis, BaltCap Infrastructure Fund manager.
This is the third BInF investment into renewable energy projects. In September 2017, the fund invested in a project valued at €16 million to build a biomass plant in Vilnius, and late in the year acquired Latvian biogas plant operator Anaerobic Holding for €9.45 million. Anaerobic Holding consists of three biogas plants with a total installed capacity of 4.9 MW.
BaltCap launched BInF in July 2017. The €100 million fund has a length of 20 years and it was established for investments in infrastructure development in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Investors in the fund include all the largest pension funds in the Baltic States, a life insurance company and other institutional investors.
Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian pension funds account for 60% of investments in the BInF, marking the largest
-ever commitment by local pension funds to any single fund in the Baltics to date. The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development and European Investment Bank have committed €20 million each. European Investment Bank financing is guaranteed under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a central element of the Juncker’s Commission Investment Plan for Europe.