Legal & General commits to its first clean energy investment in continental Europe.

LGIM Real Assets (Legal & General) announces that it has committed €120m, on behalf of LGAS, to the refinancing of one of Qualitas Energy’s (Q-Energy) solar photovoltaic (PV) portfolios consisting of 21 operational assets across Spain. The investment represents Legal & General’s first renewable energy transaction in continental Europe, seeing Legal & General partner with Q-Energy, a leading asset manager within the Spanish renewables market.

The investment forms part of a total €342m transaction, with additional investment coming from another institutional investor. The 21 solar plants generate clean energy sufficient to supply thousands of homes and have been operating successfully for a decade. The portfolio currently produces enough energy to supply over 70,400 households and avoid 75,400 tons of CO2 every year. The revenues are derived under a highly supportive regulatory framework that provides for long term stability of cash flows. This investment highlights Legal & General’s persistent commitment to ESG, as it continues to establish itself as global leader in this space.

With Europe legally required to meet net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and have greenhouse gas emissions halved by 2030, investors must actively consider how they can help reduce emissions in some of the most carbon intensive industries- including real estate, energy, transportation and social infrastructure. Legal & General is looking beyond current legislation and practices, seeking to align its real asset portfolio with a science- based carbon performance target covering the period to 2030.

LGIM Real Assets was an early leader in sustainable investment, making it a core objective for the business in 2008. It was an early participant in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmarking (GRESB) initiative to benchmark sustainability performance. With the addition of this solar PV investment, LGIM Real Assets renewables portfolio now stands in excess of £1.1bn, enhancing the Group’s extensive renewables portfolio.

About Q-Energy

Q-Energy is proud to have more than 120 employees based in Madrid and Berlin offices, and to have invested over €4.5bn in global renewable energy assets since its inception, including having raised more than €3.5bn of debt, either in bank debt or project bonds, and often pioneering the market with new structures. Our in-house Asset Management team of over 70 people currently manage over 1GW of European renewable assets, including the second largest Solar PV asset in Europe (Project Mula, 494 MWp, in Mucia Spain). These assets provide clean electricity to over 140,000 households and avoid carbon emissions of over 500,000 tCO2 per year.