Total Corporate Funding Increases 175 Percent To 26 5 Billion In The Solar Sector

Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M followed by Sunrun, a provider of residential solar-power systems and third party finance, raising 150 million; Renewable Energy Trust Capital, a finance platform established to acquire and own solar projects and provide a single equity capital source, brought in 125 million; Sungevity, a provider of residential solar installations and third party finance, raised 72.5 million; and GlassPoint Solar, a provider of solar steam generators to the oil and gas industry for applications such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), raised 53 million. A total of 119 VC investors were active in 2014, with 12 investors participating in more than one round in 2014 including: Acero Capital, Acumen Fund, DBL Investors, E.ON, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Novus Energy Partners, Omidyar Network, SolarCity, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, Trident Capital, Vision Ridge Partners and Vulcan Capital. Public market financing increased considerably to 5.2 billion in 52 deals in 2014, up from just 2.8 million in 39 deals in 2013. In 2014 seven IPOs brought in more than 2 billion combined including, Vivint Solar, Scatec Solar, Thai Solar Energy and Sky Solar. Yieldcos accounted for three of the IPOs for 1.5 billion going to Abengoa Yield, Terraform Power and NextEnergy Solar Fund. Announced debt financing in 2014 totaled almost 20 billion in 58 deals, compared to 6.2 billion in 38 deals in 2013. China accounted for 15.8 billion of the debt activity. Large-scale project funding announced in 2014 totaled 14.2 billion in 144 deals. The largest project funding deal announced in 2014 was the 942 million loan raised by China WindPower Group for a portfolio of projects totaling 800 MW. Top investors in large-scale projects were Mizuho Bank with 12 projects and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ with 10 projects. Residential and commercial funds showed strong growth in 2014 with 34 announced funds totaling 4 billion. SolarCity, SunPower, Vivint Solar, SunEdison and Syncarpha Capital were top fundraisers in 2014. Corporate M&A activity in solar totaled 4 billion in a record 116 transactions compared to 12.7 billion in 81 transactions in 2013. Consolidation activity continued among solar downstream companies with 57 transactions followed by manufacturers and equipment companies with 35 transactions. In a bid to vertically integrate, SolarCity made the most acquisitions in the last five years with seven, followed by First Solar and SunPower with six apiece. The largest M SolarCity acquired Silevo for 350 million and Solargise acquired a majority stake in Grapp Energies for 200 million. Large-scale solar project acquisitions totaled 3.2 billion in 2014, compared to 1.7 billion in 2013. Transaction activity was up 46 percent year-over-year, with 163 deals in 2014. A total of 6.4 GW of large-scale solar projects were acquired in 2014. Good solar projects with solid returns continue to be in heavy demand and are being acquired at a record pace. Competition to acquire quality projects intensified with the emergence of Yieldcos. The fourth quarter of 2014 was an active quarter for large-scale project development around the globe. Mercom tracked 241 project announcements totaling almost 9.5 GW for the quarter and 736 project announcements totaling 34.4 GW for 2014 in various stages of development globally. To learn more about the report, visit: http://store.mercom.mercomcapital.com/product/2014-q4-solar-funding-report/