The South Wales civil engineering company Walters Group has sold the freehold of two plots of land in Carmarthenshire to LL Property Services, a subsidiary of solar developer Lightsource which leases both sites as solar farms.
Although the price remains confidential, property consultancy Alder King, which acted for the vendor, says the net initial yield of 5% reflects the strong values for land used for renewables.
Energy lead partner Simon Smith said: “This disposal is the latest in a growing number of property investment transactions where landowners are taking advantage of record values being applied to income from renewable generation sources such as solar. In this case the two sites were sold at a net initial yield of circa 5% after costs.”
The 14 ha (34.5 acre) Ffos Las site, adjacent to the Ffos Las racecourse near Swansea, has a peak output of 5 MW while the nearby 6.67 ha (16.5 acre) Pont Andrew site has a peak output of 1.6 MW. The operation of the racecourse at Ffos Las is unaffected.
LL Property Services is a specialist buyer of land and property with income derived from renewable sources. Its parent company Lightsource is one of the most successful renewable energy developers in the UK with a growing global portfolio of large scale solar and other smart energy projects.
LL Property Services land acquisition manager James Thomas said “We are delighted to add the Ffos Las and Pont Andrew sites to our portfolio. They form an example of the sort of site that we like to acquire, where we are able to pay very attractive values based on a strong income together with the underlying value attributable to the land.”
Martyn Llewellyn, group director of Walters Group, added: “The sale of the Ffos Las and Pont Andrew sites made perfect sense for us. The price offered by Lightsource allowed us to convert income from a non-core asset into working capital that can now be deployed in to our main business activities.”