[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There’s a divorce brewing between the F2i Infrastructure Fund and Enel Green Power. Both are shareholders (50% each) of Ef Solare – the leading national company in the production of photovoltaic energy. The news that F2i has just signed an agreement to acquire Rtr from the British fund Terra Firma for 1.3 billion (including 700 million of debt) tells us that between the two partners the paths are about to diverge.
Rtr, of which Ingmar Wilhelm is managing director, has an installed capacity of 334 megawatts distributed over 134 solar fields. It closed 2017 with a production of electricity of 478 million kilowatt-hours, with 158 million euros of revenues (+ 8% compared to 2016) and 134 million euros of Ebitda (+ 8.5%). It is a relevant company in the field of renewables. And if F2i has decided to acquire it in a direct way, leaving Ef Solare out, it means that there is no more convergence of interests on the joint venture with Enel: that the two shareholders now live separately at home and that everyone pursues a development strategy in renewables in competition with each other.
Who will be the new owner of Ef Solare? Over the next few days, F2i’s CEO, Renato Ravanelli, will receive his mandate from the main shareholders (14% each), including Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. The note released by the Fund contains two news items: 1) that F2i intends to bring to Ef Solare Italia, “by the end of 2018, all photovoltaic assets held by the Fund (389 MW)”, making the joint venture with Enel ” one of the main European operators with over 800 MW of installed capacity “; 2) and that “in recent weeks F2i has expressed its interest in taking over the remaining 50% of the company currently held by Enel”. The road therefore seems to have already been traced, the price of divorce remains to be defined. In the meantime, the sale of RTR will have to pass the scrutiny of the European antitrust authorities.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]