BlackRock Sells 14 French Solar Projects to International Consortium

The move will mark the first realization for BlackRock’s renewable power platform and offers Samsung, Samchully AMC and Schroders an attractive foothold into the European renewables power market.

BlackRock Real Assets has reached an agreement with the Consortium of Samsung Securities as the financial investor, Samchully Asset Management as the asset manager with Schroder AIDA as the asset management advisor, on the sale of a portfolio of 14 operating solar projects across France.

The move will mark the first realization for BlackRock’s renewable power platform and offers Samsung, Samchully AMC and Schroders an attractive foothold into the European renewables power market.

Further, the portfolio achieved commercial operations between 2013 and 2015, and has demonstrated a robust track record with consistent production.

The portfolio was optimized by BlackRock through aggregating individual projects, bringing them through construction and completing a refinancing of the project level debt facilities.

The de-risked portfolio provides an International Consortium with long-term income from a high-quality core infrastructure asset.

Commenting on the development, BlackRock Renewable Power, Head of Europe, Rory O’Connor commented, “We are delighted to partner with Samsung, Samchully AMC and Schroders on this renewable power transaction. This portfolio is testament to BlackRock’s strong investment, partnering and technical capability in renewable power. We are very pleased with this sale and the realisation of value from this portfolio for our clients, and we will continue the strategy of selected realizations over time.”

“It is a remarkable achievement for Samchully AMC and the Korean financial investors to enter France’s renewable market for the very first time. After 10 years of overseas investment in energy, power and utilities – mainly in North America, we are excited to add this solar photovoltaic transaction to our portfolio,” said Jae Kyun Lee, CEO and Representative Director, Samchully AMC.