Gestamp Solar, a developer and operator of solar photovoltaic plants, has changed its name to X-ELIO following the successful completion of KKR’s acquisition of an 80% stake in the business.
Investment firm KKR finished the purchase, which was announced in July 2015, following all regulatory approvals, third-party consents and customary closing conditions. X-ELIO complements KKR’s investments in other assets worldwide, such as French wind farm company Renvico, T-Solar’s Spanish and Italian solar parks and Acciona Energia Internacional.
The transaction valued X-ELIO at a total enterprise value of around $1 billion, and the company set a target to have up to 2.5 GW of installed capacity in operation by 2020.
In the U.S., where X-ELIO has a 24 MW portfolio of operating projects, the company is working to increase its pipeline of projects, either via its own greenfield developments, strategic partnerships with U.S. companies or mergers and acquisitions deals.
In Japan, where the company has two plants and 50 MW under operation, X-ELIO now predicts it will reach as much as 600 MW of installed capacity by the end of 2017. Half of that capacity is likely to come from X-ELIO’s own developments, with the other half being added through acquisitions.
Latin America is another key market for X-ELIO, and the company has already built several projects with an aggregate capacity of approximately 100 MW in the region. It is currently developing more than 500 MW in Mexico and Chile and actively entering other South American markets such as Peru and Colombia.
X-ELIO CEO Jorge Barredo explains, “The new name celebrates our heritage and reflects X-ELIO’s enormous growth potential with its etymological cornerstones of Ex (meaning ‘out of’ and ‘from’) and Helios (the god who is the personification of the sun in Greek mythology.)”
“The combination of X-ELIO’s technological expertise and KKR’s financial firepower combines capability and capital and has created a new utility player that will shape and support the revolution that is under way in the world’s energy market,” adds Jeses Olmos, member and global co-head of infrastructure at KKR.
