AXIS closes a 30 million euro investment commitment in Everwood Renewables Europe V FCR, who will invest in sustainable infrastructure in Southern Europe

15 February 2022

Axis, the private equity subsidiary of the ICO Group, has closed an investment commitment of 30 million euros in Everwood Renewables Europe V FCR, a fund managed by Everwood Capital, which aims to develop, build and operate a portfolio of new renewable projects, mainly photovoltaic plants.

The investment was made through Fond-ICO Infraestructuras, a vehicle for investment in sustainable infrastructure. Everwood Fund V's investment strategy is fully aligned with the objectives of this vehicle as it is one of the first Spanish funds to be classified under Art. 9 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). This classification means that Everwood Fund V investments will not only contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions, but will also have no negative impact on the other objectives of the European Taxonomy.

Everwood has implemented several tools to assess the impact and sustainability of its investment projects before closing the investment. In addition, the Fund will actively monitor more than 40 non-financial sustainability indicators during the project's duration.

With the ICO investment, together with the recently closed commitment of the European Investment Fund (EIF) for 50 million euros, Everwood Fund V reached 265 million euros of Committed Capital, and expects to reach its target of 500 million euros in 2022.

AXIS CEO, Guillermo Jiménez, highlighted that "Fond-ICO Infraestructuras' participation in Everwood Renewables is part of AXIS' general strategy, as a subsidiary of the ICO Group, to promote projects that drive the ecological transition and sustainable growth, particularly through Fond-ICO Infraestructuras. We are accrediting this fund to the CNMV as an ESG fund, thereby making a commitment that investments we make with this vehicle will be mostly linked to environmental or social objectives.

From Everwood José Antonio Urquizu, founding partner of Everwood, commented: "The ICO's entry is an important endorsement of the Fund's strategy, and positions us as a leader in sustainable investment in Spain". Alfredo Fernández, founding partner, added: “ICO is one of the most recognised institutional investors in our country and we are confident that it will be a reference for other national and international institutional investors".

Additional Information:

Everwood Capital is a Spanish-based management company which specialises in renewable assets. Since its incorporation in 2015, Everwood Capital has raised five funds to invest in renewable energy assets, with a particular focus on photovoltaic projects. Funds I, II and III have already been fully divested with annual net returns to investors of between 18% and 33% net IRR. The Everwood IV Fund, established in 2018, was the first Spanish Fund dedicated to investing in the construction of unsubsidised PV projects in Southern Europe, a strategy that is being continued by the Everwood V Fund, which is still in the fundraising phase and expects to complete its final closing in 2022.

AXIS is the venture capital subsidiary of the ICO Group.  Axis is active in public-private partnerships with the venture capital industry in all areas of activity. It currently has commitments to manage up to 7.15 billion euros across its four funds: Fond-ICO Next Tech, Fond-ICO Pyme, Fond-Ico Infraestructuras ESG and Fond-ICO Global, which would allow for a combined mobilisation of over 15,000 million euros in public and private resources over the next five years, depending on the private sector's capacity to absorb resources and deliver projects.