RGREEN INVEST, independent French investment management company committed to financing infrastructure projects related to the energy transition, announces a €25 million senior short-term debt financing to BelEnergia, a European renewable energy production group based in Italy. This bridge financing, carried out through RGREEN INVEST’s INFRABRIDGE III fund, will enable the investment company’s historical partner to finance the construction of a diversified portfolio of solar and biomethane projects.
RGREEN INVEST’s third INFRABRIDGE vintage aims, through short-term senior debt financing, to answer to the acceleration ambitions of energy transition entrepreneurs and to their specific needs in terms of project or corporate financing.
For BelEnergia, this 30-month maturity transaction will allow the pan-European group to finance the construction of a diversified portfolio comprising nine solar and biomethane projects with assets located in Italy – in the regions of Puglia, Veneto, Basilicata, Sicily and Piedmont, but also in France – in the regions of Centre-Val de Loire and Pays de la Loire.
We are delighted to help this pioneering group consolidate its presence in France and expand production of renewable energy in Europe,” says Nicolas Rochon, RGREEN INVEST’s CEO. This marks a new step in our 6-year long partnership throughout which we have invested more than €100M, and side-by-side have developed a fruitful growth strategy leveraging new value creation assets, such as biogas”.
Since BelEnergia’s creation in 2016, RGREEN INVEST has supported the developer’s growth through both debt and equity via its two flagship investment strategies INFRAGREEN and INFRABRIDGE, providing financing for infrastructure projects in Italy (for solar, biogas, onshore wind and biomass) and now in France (for solar and biogas).
Vincent Bartin, the President of the BelEnergia group adds, “We’re grateful for the trust RGREEN INVEST has shown us over the years. RGREEN INVEST has offered us a flexible bridge financing that enables us to serenely launch several large-scale projects, without having to wait for bank financing or refinancing. This significant contribution, in conjunction with the support of our shareholders and the various bank loans, strengthens our expansion strategy.”
ABOUT BELENERGIA
Belenergia Spa is a European leader in the circular economy and promoter of green energy (electricity and biogas). Seeking to give purpose to its industrial action, Belenergia also assigns considerable value to co-products (fertilizers, alcohol and vegetable oil), while integrating the best technologies and practices in the field of solar, wind and biowaste. The Belenergia group, led by Vincent Bartin, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Jacques Edouard Lévy, its Managing Director, now counts more than 130 employees. Attentive to growing alongside its partners and building a healthy ecosystem, Belenergia Spa is experiencing accelerated growth, which translates into the commissioning of numerous sites year after year. The latest one, a 500 Sm3/hr biogas plant in Italy running on 100% by-products from the livestock and olive industry, was connected to the grid on November 24th, 2022. The projects, currently in the process of being authorized in Southern Europe for the next five years, exceed 2 GW of electrical power and 10,000 Sm3/h of injection (biomethane).