Italian infrastructure fund F2i and French insurer Crédit Agricole Assurances have reached an agreement to acquire the wind farm portfolio owned by the Spanish group Villar Mir in northern Spain. The portfolio consists of operating wind farms with a capacity of 53 megawatts and projects at an advanced stage of development totalling a further 430 megawatts.

According to the agreement signed by the three parties, F2i will take control of 60% of the portfolio, while Credit Agricole Assurances, its partner in the EF Solare Italia Group, will buy the remaining 40%. F2i already had a presence in Spain with Renovalia, which it acquired in 2019. This company, controlled by its subsidiary EF Solare, has 200 megawatts of installed capacity in photovoltaic projects, with a further 1,200 megawatts in projects under construction.

Electricity trader
As a result of the agreement, the Italian fund has also acquired 40% of EVM, the Villar Mir Group's electricity trading company. It has in addition reserved a short-term call option on the remaining 60% with the aim of replicating its integrated business model in the electricity sector outside Italy.

This is the fourth investment made by the Fondo per le Infrastrutture Sostenibili (Fondo V) [Infrastructure Sustainability Fund, Fund V], which F2i launched a year ago with the objective of reaching 1.5 billion euros. So far, it has already managed to raise 1.3 billion, which it has divided between renewable energy, gas storage, circular economy and recycling and social and health infrastructure.

A very promising market
The CEO of the Italian fund, Renato Ravanelli, explained, "With this transaction, F2i Sgr is taking an important step towards consolidation in the renewable energy market in Spain, where the fund has been active since 2019 with the photovoltaic operator Renovalia. The acquisition of Villar Mir's wind farms complements the solar energy activities in one of the most promising renewable energy markets in Europe and lays the foundation for a European renewable asset portfolio, which is increasingly strategic in the current macroeconomic and geopolitical context."

Crédit Agricole Assurances CEO Philippe Dumont added, "We are very excited to develop a new partnership with F2i following our joint investments in Italy. This new acquisition in renewables will benefit from Renovalia's know-how as a greenfield project developer. This investment is fully in line with the Crédit Agricole Group's climate commitments and will contribute to reaching our objective of 14 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2025."