Partners Group makes $200m Taiwan solar investment

The private markets investments manager will hold a majority ownership position in the project while Taiwan's Cathay Financial Holdings will acquire a minority stake through its life insurance unit. The investors have partnered with local solar infrastructure developer Sinogreenergy to manage the project rollout.

The portfolio is planned to consist of up to 550 megawatts of power plants using both rooftop and ground-mounted photovoltaic installations. Once completed, the development be supported by a 20-year power purchase agreement with the state-owned utility. It is also expected to benefit from increased political support for renewables, with the Taiwanese government having recently pledged to triple its solar installation target from 6.2 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts by 2025.

"We believe this is a great opportunity to build a sizeable solar power platform in one of Asia's largest and most sophisticated economies," Benjamin Haan, managing director and Asia Pacific head of private infrastructure at Partners Group, said in a statement. "Our investment comes at an inflection point in the Taiwanese renewable energy sector."

It represents Partners Group's third major solar deal in the past two years, following the commitment of $100 million for a project in the US earlier this year and a $250 million investment alongside Equis Funds Group in the Japan Solar platform. Japan Solar has since benefited from follow-on fundraising by Equis. Partners Group has otherwise been active in renewables with a 2012 investment in Thailand's Wind Energy.

Partner Group raised EUR 1.5 billion for private equity direct investments in early 2014. This followed closely on closure of the firm's largest-ever dedicated global infrastructure vehicle at EUR1 billion.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Cleantech
• Industrials
• Infrastructure
• Taiwan (China)
• Partners Group
• energy