Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd has agreed to acquire a portfolio of solar rooftop leasing subscriptions in Norway and Sweden from Norway-based home solar installation marketplace Otovo ASA.
The portfolio in question comprises about 1,600 residential solar leasing subscriptions but its total size could reach as many as 3,500 systems because Otovo will continue to enter into new subscription agreements on a continuous basis until the end of 2024.
The seller will divest the current portfolio for NOK 229 million (USD 20.8m/EUR 19.8m) million at closing and proceed to transfer more assets as they are built. According to it, the maximum value of the deal could reach NOK 700 million.
Swiss Life Asset Managers and Otovo will look to extend their partnership beyond Scandinavia from 2024 onwards.
"This transaction is the first of its kind in Scandinavia and confirms the attractiveness of rooftop solar as a financial asset class when done at scale, in addition to its being the fastest growing segment of the European solar energy buildout,” said Otovo chief executive Andreas Thorsheim.
Marc Schuerch, head of Renewable Energy International at Swiss Life Asset Managers, added that the acquisition provides the firm’s investors with access to the fast-growing rooftop solar market with an innovative business model.