VC MONEY SLIPPING AWAY FROM SUN

VC Funding In Solar Sector Continues To Slump In Q1 2013 With $126 Million…Solar downstream outraises thin film

May 2013 (Mercom Capital Group)

“…The slump in global venture capital (VC) investments [in solar], which started in Q3 2012, continued, dipping to $126 million in 26 deals in Q1 2013 compared to $220 million in 27 deals in the previous quarter. This is the second lowest quarter for VC funding since 2008. In total, downstream companies, mostly solar lease companies, raised $75 million in eight deals, followed by thin film with $25 million in six deals…

“…[D]eals in Q1 2013 included $30 million raised by OneRoof Energy from Hanwha…$28 million raised by Sungevity from five investors that included Brightpath Capital Partners, Lowe’s, Vision Ridge Partners, Craton Equity Partners, and Eastern Sun Capital Partners…[eSolar] raised $12.8 million…[crystalsol raised $11 million] from Conor Venture Partners, Arax Capital Partners, and Energy Future Invest…[and Goal Zero and PsomasFMG each] raised $7 million from MTI Partners.”

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“Third party finance/solar lease firms raised about half a billion dollars in residential and commercial project funds in the first quarter with three of the transactions at $100 million each…SunPower announced a $100 million financing program with U.S. Bancorp…Bosch Solar Energy also established a $100 million fund with its subsidiary aleo solar…[and] OneRoof Energy will invest $100 million in residential solar projects with MS Solar Holdings, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley and Main Street Power, with debt financing provided by National Bank of Arizona. Mercom has tracked approximately $5 billion in disclosed solar lease funds to date.

“M&A activity in the first quarter amounted to $306 million in 15 transactions…[in] three categories: acquisitions of downstream players to acquire project pipelines or create captive markets for upstream products, acquisitions of key technologies and IP, and acquisitions of distressed assets/companies…There were more than 1 GW of projects that changed hands in the first quarter of 2013. Disclosed project acquisitions in Q1 2013 totaled $137 million in 20 transactions…dominated by the massive acquisition of SunPower’s 579 MW Antelope Valley Solar Projects by Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Solar…Other active project acquirers this quarter included: GE Energy Financial Services, MetLife, Union Bank and Citi, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Mitsubishi Corporation, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and Solar Ventures.”

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