Spanish Cleantech Fund Manager SI Capital

Appoints Wind Energy Pioneer Guillermo Briones as Chairman. Guillermo Briones, one of Spain's most successful renewable energy entrepreneurs, has become Chairman and a minority shareholder of the Barcelona-based cleantech fund-management company, SI Capital Partners.

Terranova, the wind power developer Mr Briones founded in 1991, developed more than 500MW of installed wind power in northern Spain and had a pipeline of additional 400MW in development before merging with another Spanish wind developer, CESA, in 2005. The merged entity was bought by the Spanish construction company Acciona for €1.4bn in 2006.

SI Capital Partners manages a private equity fund, SI Capital R&S 1, which is registered and authorised by the Spanish stock exchange regulator, Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores. The fund was launched in Q1 2007, was seeded with €10mn and is now seeking to raise up to €80mn.

SI Capital Managing Partner, Sebastian Waldburg, commented: “There is no one better qualified to guide our investment strategy and increase our dealflow than Guillermo Briones. This is an excellent appointment for us as we begin to increase investments and raise further funds.”

Mr Briones said: “This is an exciting opportunity for me. SI Capital is poised for great success in the Spanish market, which is one of the best markets for renewable power development in the world.”

SI Capital has so far acquired minority stakes in:

Enerstar Solar Thermal Project S.A. – development platform for solar thermo electric plants, currently developing a 50 MW plant Bernalia State Renovables S.L. – a biomass development platform with three projects in pipeline Solynova Energia S.A. – a developer and operator of solar photovoltaic plants SI Capital has a deal flow pipeline of more than 1,000MW in projects using diversified technologies (solar PV, CSP, wind and biomass), of which 150MW is already legally secured.

SI Capital is being advised on its fund raising in London by Carbon International.

SI Capital R&S I is a private equity investment company registered and authorised by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, the Spanish Stock Exchange Regulator. The Fund was launched in Q1 2007 and is managed by SI Capital Partners, a Spanish private equity manager specialised on environmental markets.

The Fund's focus is development stage projects, operating stage projects and companies active in Spanish Renewable Energy – particularly wind, solar photovoltaic, solar thermo electric or “Concentrated Solar Power” (CSP), bio-mass and small hydro-electricity.

Website: www.sicapital.net