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Sorgent.e: Amber Capital joins with 32.5%

Operation carried out entirely by capital increase. Objective: listing on the stock exchange
Graziano Debellini Chairman and Daniele Boscolo Meneguolo Managing Director.
The Board of Directors also includes the founder of Amber, Joseph Oughourlian, and Amber's representative for Italy, Umberto Mosetti

Padua, 25 July 2011 - The Padua-based Sorgent.e Group - numbering more than 30 different companies operating in the alternative energies sector worldwide - has a new, important financial shareholder: the New York fund Amber Capital, guided by Joseph Oughourlian. The US institutional investor has joined the capital of the holding company of Sorgent.e through the private equity fund Amber Energia.

Upon completion of the operation, which will be carried out entirely through a capital increase, Amber Energia will rise to holding a 32.5% share of Sorgent.e, whilst Solfin International will maintain 67.5%. At the same time as Amber joined the group, Graziano Debellini, specified by Solfin International, was appointed Chairman of Sorgent.e and Daniele Boscolo Meneguolo took the office of Managing Director. Joseph Oughourlian, founder of Amber, and Umberto Mosetti, Amber's representative for Italy, have also joined the board.

Sorgent.e records turnover of € 80 million and boasts success stories on all renewable sources: in Italy, the Padua-based group is constructing the largest solar farm of Lombardy in Lodi (6 megawatts at the ex Nato base of San Fiorano); it leads the mini-hydroelectric sector, having developed the first plant of this type in our country (with water drops of twenty or thirty centimetres or so), which was started up in Montodine, in the province of Cremona, last spring. In the wind power sector, Sorgent.e has investments in a portfolio of farms for 400 MW and can also boast innovative developments in biomass.

Sorgent.e is today a world player with recognised leadership, particularly in the design, construction and management of hydroelectric plants: it has 28 plants under construction in 9 different countries worldwide, another 5 in the portfolio in South America alone, 850 MW of renewable energy developed and already up and running and a further 800 MW under development, with total investments of more than € 400 million.

The Group companies include STE Energy SpA, one of the most important Italian plant manufacturers worldwide, recently chosen by Enersur/GdF Suez to build and install a 112 MW hydroelectric plant in Quitaracsa in Peru. An extremely important plant that will connect and convert to combined cycle a further 2 plants, creating a real "energy hub" for which total investments are forecast of around $ 800 million.

A presence in Italy for many years now, with investments in large listed companies, Amber Capital manages funds for more than 1.5 billion and is known as a long-term investor with a focus on the key issues of businesses and good governance.

In 2007, it also founded an asset management company incorporated under the laws of Italy, which administers 2 funds: Amber Italia Equity through which it invests in listed companies and Amber Energia, a private equity fund used for the acquisition of minority shares in medium-sized Italian businesses operating in the renewable energies sector. Amber Energia aims to acquire businesses that are little exposed to regulatory risk in the medium-term, with entrepreneurial excellences in addition to great potential for growth and diversification abroad.

Sorgent.e is the third investment to be made by the Amber Energia fund in Italy. An operation of great industrial value, therefore, aimed at financing the international growth of a Group that has for years represented one of the most original cases of the Italian green economy.

The managers of Amber were convinced by the know-how, credibility and international presence gained by the Group in around 16 years of operations, thanks above all to the quality of a competent, close-knit management team that takes a long-term view in a sector with a high rate of innovation.

Amber was assisted in the operation by the Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm, whilst Sorgent.e was flanked by Studio Bassilana & Associati and by Valecap as financial advisor.

"Those who know us and our history" - declares Graziano Debellini, the Chairman of Sorgent.e - "Are well aware that the decision to allow a private equity fund to join one of our companies represents a great cultural leap. Doing so with Amber was, however, a simple matter thanks to the personal harmony that was successfully developed. Our shared objectives are ambitious, and this is, for us, a point of change in the renewable energy field, which takes place exactly twenty years after the very first intuition. The agreement with Amber will be for the medium/long-term, after which it is very likely that Sorgent.e will be listed on the stock exchange".

"This is our most important investment in the world of energy" - says Joseph Oughourlian, Managing Partner and founder of Amber Capital - "Sorgent.e has wonderful assets and great potential that we are happy to help develop. We have also been struck by the wealth of the human capital we have met and the history of the shareholders of Solfin International. My decision to personally join the board of directors is proof of our commitment and efforts".

"Amber's joining is in line with our growth plans, particularly with regards the international part" - declares the Managing Director of Sorgent.e Daniele Boscolo Meneguolo - "Because it allows us to gain access to resources that will allow the Group to compete on the world markets. Our aim is to capitalise plants producing energy from renewable sources, diversifying markets and energy sources in order to ensure stable assets for the future".