Vantage Capital, Greenpoint funding to boost SolarAfrica

Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine debt fund manager, is stepping up its involvement in South Africa’s solar energy industry

The finance group announced that it has made a R635mn (US$40mn) investment, alongside co-investor, Greenpoint Capital, into Commercial Energy South Africa (CESA), a subsidiary of SolarAfrica Energy.

CESA holds commercial and industrial (C&I) solar and battery energy assets developed by SolarAfrica, a leading South African energy solutions provider.

The investment comprises a mezzanine facility which was used to exit Inspired Evolution from CESA, making SolarAfrica the 100% owner of CESA.

“This transaction reflects our conviction in distributed energy infrastructure and the strength of SolarAfrica’s platform,” said Roshal Ramdenee, a partner at Vantage Capital.

“CESA’s contracted C&I solar and battery portfolio provides predictable cash flows and supports South Africa’s shift to reliable and sustainable power. We look forward to working closely with SolarAfrica and Greenpoint as the platform continues to scale.”

The move also reflects growing investor appetite in the distributed energy sector more broadly.

Founded in 2011, SolarAfrica provides solar-PV, battery storage, energy trading, electricity wheeling and gas-to-power services tailored for C&I clients, helping businesses lower electricity costs, secure reliable power and reduce carbon emissions.

It has a strong track record, having delivered around 343MW of funded solar projects across southern Africa, with a further 1.14GW being rolled out.

CESA acts as a holding company for C&I rooftop solar and battery storage solutions assets that have been developed by SolarAfrica.

It currently holds a portfolio of assets with energy capacity of around 90MW across 134 different sites.

“Vantage has provided senior debt to a number of renewable energy projects through its GreenX senior debt division,” said Warren van der Merwe, managing partner at Vantage Capital.

“We are pleased to showcase in this deal how mezzanine finance can play a part in the rapidly evolving power sector.”

Charl Alheit, CIO at SolarAfrica, said the transaction would help to advance the group’s core mission to bring more power to more people and firms across Africa.

“Taking full control of the portfolio means we can continue to innovate by bringing more renewable energy solutions, such as electricity wheeling, to customers,” said Alheit.

“This underscores our commitment to making cheaper, greener power more accessible to C&I businesses as part of their green energy journey.”

Step Advisory acted as deal advisor to SolarAfrica on the transaction, Werksmans acted as legal counsel for Vantage. Other advisors to the transaction included Cresco, Ernst and Young, Webber Wentzel and SLR Consulting.

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