17 May USS Invests €225m for 50% stake in 4,000 MW spanish solar energy platform Bruc Energy
London-Madrid, May 17, 2021.- The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the largest private pension fund in the United Kingdom by assets, has taken a 50% stake in Bruc Energy, a Spain and Portugal renewables-focussed investment vehicle created by Canadian pension fund OPTrust and the Spanish businessman, Juan Béjar.
In the transaction arranged by USS Investment Management, the wholly-owned subsidiary and principal investment manager and advisor to the Scheme, USS has invested €225M (c.£200m) in return for the stake in a major pipeline of 4000 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) farms. Bruc Energy has an ambitious growth plan that goes beyond this to invest in other green energies, such as wind power.
USS already has a strong relationship with both OPTrust and Juan Bejar through Globalvia, a specialist infrastructure platform focussed on managing rail and highways assets around the world.
Spain’s long days of sunshine and a national target to reach 100% renewable-based generation by 2050 make it an attractive place to invest in solar energy. In addition, the decades long lifespan of solar PV panels make them well-suited to USS in helping pay members’ pensions long into the future.
USS Investment Management CEO, Simon Pilcher, said: “We are delighted to be committing further finance to renewables and particularly to a major Spanish solar platform like this. We have already invested or committed around £1 billion to renewable energy and demand for this will only increase as more and more countries transition to lower carbon. We know that our members care very much about climate change and ESG and we are convinced that USS playing its part in supporting the transition to a low carbon economy makes good financial sense, too. This announcement closely follows on from our stated ambition to become Net Zero by 2050 so this transaction and others like it will be a key plank of our strategy going forward.”
Gavin Merchant, Co-Head of Direct Equity, said: “We have worked alongside OPTrust and Juan Béjar for many years and are delighted to be making this investment. The long-term nature of solar and the steady returns make renewables attractive to a pension scheme needing to pay pensions for years to come.”
OPTrust’s Morgan McCormick, Managing Director, Private Markets Group UK said: “We are excited to have USS join Bruc Energy building on our strong existing relationship. Their investment will help Bruc become one of the leading renewable energy platforms in Spain. At OPTrust, we believe that investing in renewable energy helps transitions the world to a more sustainable economy. In doing so, we can continue to deliver on our mission of paying pensions today and preserving pensions for tomorrow.”
Juan Béjar said: “This partnership is a key step to establishing Bruc as one of the more dynamic players in the renewables industry in Spain, because it ensures access to the funds to develop our current portfolio. All three shareholders of Bruc Energy share a long-term vision, but also the ambition and the social responsibility to counter the effects of climate change in the short-term.”
Following the transaction, which remains subject to conditions, including regulatory approval, Bruc Energy will be owned 50% by USS and BROP, a vehicle owned by OPTrust and Béjar. The transaction was advised by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Greenhill and Nomura. Juan Béjar will be the president of Bruc Energy and Luis Venero the CEO.
Notes to Editors:
USS
Universities Superannuation Scheme (the “Scheme”) was established in 1974 as the principal pension scheme for universities and other higher education institutions in the UK. It has more than 400,000 members across more than 340 institutions and is one of the largest pension schemes in the UK, with total fund assets of around £68 billion (as at 31 March 2020).
USS Investment Management Limited provides in-house investment management and advisory services in respect of the assets of the Scheme. USS is an active investor in renewables and infrastructure in the UK and globally and holds investments in multiple companies including Thames Water, Globalvia and L1 Renewables.
For more information on Universities Superannuation Scheme please go to www.uss.co.uk.
OPTrust
With net assets of over $23 billion, OPTrust invests and manages one of Canada’s largest pension funds and administers the OPSEU Pension Plan (including OPTrust Select), a defined benefit plan with over 98,000 members. OPTrust is a global investor in a broad range of asset classes including Canadian and foreign equities, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure and private equity, and has a team of highly experienced investment professionals located in Toronto, London and Sydney.
For more information on OPTrust, please go to www.optrust.com
Juan Béjar
With a degree in Law and Business Administration from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid (ICADE), Juan Béjar is the founder and executive president of Bruc Management, a company that today has international investors with the purpose of managing an international portfolio of assets in the field of energy renewable.
Until July 2015 he was vice president and CEO of FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas), where he led the organizational and financial restructuring of the infrastructure, environmental services and water group. During his tenure, Bill Gates, George Soros and Carlos Slim were incorporated as shareholders.
He previously was CEO of Cementos Portland Valderrivas and Globalvia Infraestructuras. Prior to this, he was president of Citigroup Infrastructure Management. An important part of his professional career was developed in the Ferrovial group, where he was CEO of Ferrovial Infraestructuras and Executive Vice President and CEO of Cintra, S.A.
For more information on Bruc, please go to https://brucenergy.com/