RAEF US and WElink Energy/CTIEC Sign Partnership Development Agreement for Pipeline of Renewable Energy Projects

DUBLIN, Ireland & MILAN, Italy & SAN DIEGO

RAEF US, the U.S. subsidiary of RAEF (Real Assets Energy Fund), has signed an agreement with WElink Energy/CTIEC to jointly develop a pipeline of new renewable energy projects totaling US $1 billion in North America.

RAEF has an excellent track record in the investment field of clean energy projects across various technologies worldwide. WElink has an equally strong track record in the construction and financing of renewable energy projects internationally. CTIEC (China Triumph International Engineering Co. Ltd.) is an engineering, design and EPC contractor that serves as the engineering and technical platform of CNBM (China National Building Material Co. Ltd.), whose net assets exceed US $46 billion. CNBM delivers long-term competitive solutions for renewable energy projects.

RAEF US will work alongside WElink/CTIEC to identify and develop attractive opportunities in the North American market for renewable energy projects that would be appropriate for acquisition by U.S. institutional investors. Once a viable project opportunity is identified, WElink/CTIEC will take responsibility for the design, engineering, procurement, supply, construction and financing necessary to deliver a fully operational power plant.

The planned investments will be primarily in photovoltaic (PV) solar and wind power generation but other clean technology opportunities such as biomass and hydro will be considered where attractive.

The two groups believe that this cooperation is an excellent opportunity to create additional value in current and future activities for the partners, and in particular to accelerate the project pipeline and investment program for the renewable energy investment fund currently being jointly managed by RAEF US and LM Capital Group, LLC. The partners look forward to this agreement as an important first step in multiple future collaborations.

RAEF US is the U.S. subsidiary of RAEF (www.raefund.com) and the third investment program of Solar Investment Group Management (SIGM). RAEF employs 16 full time specialists with renewable energy investment experience in over 15 countries. RAEF team members have highly differentiated industry track records and have more than 140 years of renewable energy investment (Solar, Hydro, Wind, Biomass) and have invested a total of Euro 2.7 billion in renewable energy infrastructure. SIGM has invested over € 200 million in renewable energy projects between 2010 and 2011 with financial support from Intesa and Unicredit Banks. RAEF US has partnered with LM Capital Group, LLC (www.lmcapital.com) in the U.S. to jointly manage the LM Capital Renewable Energy Income Fund I (REIF) which will invest up to $300 million of equity in PV solar and wind generation projects in the U.S. and Canada.

WElink Energy (www.welinkenergy.com) is a specialist clean energy company with extensive experience in the development, financing, marketing and construction of solar PV plants and energy efficiency programs across Europe, Southeast Asia and more recently in the U.S. and Latin America. With a particular focus on China, WElink has offices in seven countries and an international management team that has delivered more than 550 Megawatts of projects to date. WElink has operated successfully as a leading international partner of CTIEC since 2011.

China Triumph International Engineering Co., Ltd. (CTIEC) is the technology and engineering platform and international business arm of China National Building Material Group (CNBM), a state-owned Fortune 500 company, and the leading building materials company in the world. As a part of its core business, CTIEC (www.ctiec.net/english/) is devoting itself to the engineering excellence, and innovation of renewable energy/new energy housing solutions, R&D of thin film PV etc., with the goal of becoming the leading global solar thin film technology/product producer, and renewable energy / new energy housing turnkey EPC provider. In the solar PV project business sector, CNBM, as an EPC contractor, has delivered more than 2 Gigawatts of projects in China, Japan, Thailand, Eastern Europe, Germany, Italy, the UK and the U.S.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150811005041/en/

WElink Energy
Angelo Prete, +35 31 211 6328
Chief Operating Officer
a.prete@welink.eu
or
RAEF US
Roberto Arcadu, +39 346 0353724
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
ra@raefund.com