UK Fund Gresham House Raises £380m Funding For Storage Projects

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund has secured a £380m bespoke funding package from NatWest bank with support the growth of its UK energy storage pipeline. Gresham House is a listed specialist alternative asset manager, offering funds, direct investments and tailored investment opportunities.

The new funding will help finance seven newly announced battery energy storage projects due to be completed in 2022.

Storage projects, with their short gestation/construction periods, typically 10 year contracts and clear revenue streams, have been gaining in popularity as an investment worthy option, although still the domain of specialists and agencies like Gresham House. Traditional institutions like banks have still struggled to evaluate risks properly.

The five-year tenure loan comprises a £150m capex term loan, a £30m working capital facility and £200m uncommitted accordion.

Ben Guest, Gresham House Energy Storage Fund manager, said: “Introducing a modest amount of cost-effective leverage to the portfolio has been an ambition since IPO and we’re delighted with the successful completion of this transaction, the terms achieved and the quality of the institutions that have taken part.

“We recently set out ambitious plans to significantly increase the size of our portfolio over the next two years, given the UK’s need to increase battery storage capacity tenfold by the middle of this decade. This facility will provide us with the financial headroom to achieve our growth plans.”

The UK has moved to add battery storage capacity on its grid in a big way, thanks to a high share if renewables projected for the near future. These are dominated by wind especially. Upto 18 GW of storage capacity has been projected by 2035.