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Prime Capital, the independent asset manager and financial services provider based in Frankfurt, has announced the successful final close of its sustainable multi-investor infrastructure fund Prime Green Energy Infrastructure Fund (PGEIF). The PGEIF has achieved total commitments of EUR 586 mn, significantly exceeding its target volume of EUR 500 mn. It was launched in June 2020 and focuses on onshore wind power in Scandinavia. By entering the projects early, the value generated during the commercialisation phase is made available to investors, thereby generating an alpha of two to three percentage points of return compared to conventional investment strategies. This approach, which has already been tested several times, includes, among other things, the extension of approval periods, the optimisation of both the wind farm layout and the turbine technology as well as a broad tendering of operational management contracts.

"The idea of launching this fund arose almost four years ago as part of the successful cooperation with Siemens Financial Services and Siemens Gamesa," says Dr Mathias Bimberg, Head of Infrastructure at Prime Capital. "We would not have dared to dream that we would exceed our original target of EUR 500 mn by such a significant margin, in particular in an economic environment dominated by the pandemic. The final close of our PGEIF is perhaps the finest way for us to celebrate our ten years of activity in the renewable energy sector," he adds. Prime Capital secured several attractive investment projects for the fund in Sweden, Finland and Norway. These investments have increased Prime Capital's track record in the infrastructure sector to over 2,000 MW of realised capacity. The independent asset manager has thus become one of the largest investors in the Scandinavian onshore wind segment.

In addition, PGEIF is the first infrastructure equity fund to receive a second party opinion from Sustainalytics®, a global leader in ESG research, ratings and analysis. According to Sustainalytics, the fund complies with the principles for sustainable and responsible investment. As a result, it makes a significant positive contribution to the EU's climate change objectives. The fund also met the strict requirements of the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), introduced last year, and was classified as an impact fund ("Article 9") as it invests in sustainable business activities that also comply with the EU taxonomy.

In 2021, Prime Capital AG also received several prestigious awards for its investments made in the renewable energy sector. Both the "Global" and the "European Deal of the Year Award" of the annual global Infrastructure Investor Awards went to project Björnberget, PGEIF's seed investment, a 372 MW onshore wind farm in central Sweden. The project is expected to produce approximately 1.1 TWh of clean electricity annually from 2023. Prime Capital was also named "Investor of the Year" at the A Word About Wind Investment Awards 2021.

"We are pleased to announce the final close of our infrastructure fund. The interest in our PGEIF has clearly exceeded our expectations and has shown that we have a good instinct for new investment products. The ESG certifications are also a clear signal that we are on the right track," says Andreas Kalusche, CEO of Prime Capital. "For 2022, we are planning further sustainable investments as well as new strategies that will combine the advantages of Sustainability as well as Digital, Social and Renewable Infrastructure in the mezzanine segment."

"The launch of the PGEIF has been an important step in the evolution of our Renewable Energy strategy, which we launched 10 years ago," says Dr Werner Goricki, Prime Capital's CIO. "We have already started the construction phase for the first three large-scale projects secured for the fund, with a total capacity of 816 MW, and one has already achieved grid connection. With the planned addition of another 3 to 5 projects, we expect the fund to produce 3 TWh of electricity annually, which will supply more than 800,000 households with electricity and save 1.6 million tonnes of CO2. In addition to wind, the fund will also implement related themes, in particular the production of green hydrogen and other carbon-neutral energy sources."

Prime Capital had originally intended to raise a total volume of EUR 500 mn with its PGEIF. "After renowned institutional investors from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Israel successfully invested in PGEIF and we even reached a volume of EUR 586 mn, we want to continue to satisfy the growing appetite of our investors for sustainable investments who are looking for attractive, risk-adjusted returns" Andreas Kalusche concludes.