Total company funding (like enterprise capital/private equity, public market, and debt financing) at Q3 2019 was up with $9 billion raised, compared to the $6.7 billion raised in Q3 2018, a 34% growth (YoY).
Corporate funding into the solar sector in Q3 2019 came to $3 billion, compared to $1.3 billion in Q3 2018.
“Corporate funding activity so far this year is ahead of last year’s levels as demand outlook appears favorable, and solar public companies continue to perform well. In Q3 2019, over $100 million in venture capital went to engineering and manufacturing-focused companies, that’s rare. Five IPOs and over a billion dollars in securitization deals so far this season have been the highlights,”
Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.
In Q3 2019, international VC financing (venture capital, private equity, and corporate venture capital) from the solar sector was 13% greater with $1 billion compared to $889 million raised from the first nine months of 2018.
The top fiveVC deals in Q3 2019 were 1. $300 million raised by Renew Power 2. $144 million raised by Avaada Energy 3. $65 million raised by Yellow Door Energy 4. $50 million raised by BBOXX 5. $50 million increased by Spruce Finance.
A total of 88 VC investors participated in solar financing in Q3 2019.
Solar public market financing in Q3 2019 rose to $2.25 billion in 13 deals, 25% greater compared to $1.8 billion in 14 deals in Q3 2018. Public market financing into the solar sector came to $1.3 billion in five deals in Q3 2019 with the help of two IPOs.
A total of five IPOs from the solar industry have collectively brought in $1.3 billion in Q3 2019.
Announced debt financing activity in the first nine weeks of 2019 ($5.8 billion in 37 prices ) was 43% higher in comparison to the first nine months of 2018. Cumulatively, $4.7 billion has been raised through securitization prices since 2013.
The top project funding deal in Q3 2019 was Powertis, which obtained $613 million from BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social) and BNB (Banco do Nordeste), to develop a 765 MW solar PV portfolio in Brazil. A total of 60 investors provided funds for large-scale project growth in Q3 2019.
In Q3 2019, there have been a total of 57 (10 disclosed) solar M&A trades compared to 64 (16 revealed ) transactions in 9M 2018.
The best M&A solar trade in 9M 2019 was the $255 million acquisition of a 78.5% stake in Perseo, operator of photovoltaic production centers, by ERG, through its subsidiary ERG Power Generation.
There were 20 solar M&A trades in Q3 2019 compared to 19 solar M&A trades in Q2 2019 and 18 trades in Q3 2018. Of the 20 transactions in Q3 2019, 14 included solar downstream businesses, five involved equilibrium of system (BOS) companies, and one deal included a solar service provider.
Project acquisition activity was lower in Q3 2019, with 15.9 GW of solar energy projects acquired, compared to 23.6 GW acquired in precisely the exact same period this past year. In Q3 2019, a total of 34 projects to get a joint 4.3 GW were obtained.
Project programmers were the significant acquirers of solar resources and accounted for roughly 2.2 GW of acquisitions from Q3 2019, followed by investment firms and funds, which picked up 739 MW of jobs, and utilities and independent power producers (IPPs) which obtained 536 MW of jobs.
