Follow-on Investment in Olhava following Breach
Aquila European Renewables PLC
13 July 2026
13 July 2026
Aquila European Renewables plc
Follow-on investment into Olhava further to ongoing breach of financial covenants managed by Aquila Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commerzbank Group
Aquila European Renewables plc's ("AERI" or the "Company") 100% owned investment in Olhava, the 34.6 MWp wind power project in Finland, has been in breach of financial covenants of its senior debt facility. Olhava is managed on the Company's behalf by Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft mbH ("Aquila Capital"), the Company's investment adviser and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commerzbank Group.
Equity Cure
Following discussions with the lender the Company will provide additional capital to Olhava of up to EUR 0.7 million, which will be progressively injected into Olhava, by way of an additional shareholder loan. It is anticipated that this additional capital will enable Olhava to continue to settle loan repayments due in December 2026 and June 2027. This is the fourth covenant breach and the second time that the Company has been required to provide additional capital to Olhava. During this period Olhava will continue not to make distributions to the Company.
Notwithstanding the above, the Board notes that recent operational developments at Olhava have allowed the production limitation strategy introduced in 2025 to reduce exposure to grid balancing costs to be substantially relaxed, which is expected to increase production and revenue potential, albeit remaining fully exposed to market power prices.
The Board also notes that Olhava's technical and commercial manager ("TCM"), failed to submit a properly completed application for feed-in tariff ("FiT") support, resulting in a missed tariff of approximately EUR 660,000 in the second quarter of 2023. The TCM has offered to pay only the minimum amount required under its contract, of approximately EUR 37,000, which the Board considers inadequate. The Board is considering seeking redress from the TCM in respect of this matter. This raises a question as to whether Aquila Capital exercised adequate oversight of the TCM in this regard.
Other investment in breach of bank covenants
Albeniz, the Company's wholly-owned solar PV investment in Spain, is similarly cash constrained. There are no distributions from Albeniz, Tiza and Greco as a result of the cross-collateralisation of debt. Taken together with the position at Olhava, this means that distributable cash flow to the Company, is now significantly constrained.
Valuation and management fees
Aquila Capital has continued to earn substantial management fees on from Olhava, Albeniz, Tiza and Greco. Olhava was valued at EUR 14.6 million at the year end (Euro 23.1 million: FY2024), a figure the Board now questions in light of the recurring need for shareholder support to fund the investment. Olhava's contribution to the Company has fallen from EUR 4.1 million in 2024 to break-even in 2025, and now requires further shareholder capital simply to meet its debt obligations.
Commenting on today's announcement, Robert Naylor, Chairman of Aquila European Renewables plc, said:
"The Board is extremely dissatisfied with the performance of assets under Aquila Capital's, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commerzbank Group, management and with the repeated calls on shareholders to fund shortfalls. We are pursuing every option available to us to protect shareholder value and will hold Aquila Capital, and Commerzbank as its parent, to account."
LEI: 213800UKH1TZIC9ZRP41
Enquiries:
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Apex Listed Companies Services (UK) Limited (Company Secretary)
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+44 (0) 20 3327 9720 |
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Deutsche Numis (Corporate Broker) Hugh Jonathan George Shiel |
+44 (0) 20 7545 8000 |
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