Acquisition expands Drax’s renewable generation portfolio with 0.9GW of operating assets and 2.9GW development pipeline
LONDON: Drax Group plc has agreed to acquire Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd. (BSIF) in a recommended all-cash transaction valued at approximately £561 million, including a permitted dividend, the companies announced Thursday.
The acquisition, to be implemented through a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Guernsey law, will see BSIF shareholders receive 92.574 pence per share in cash, plus retain a second interim dividend of 2.25 pence per share payable on or around June 15, 2026. The cash consideration alone values BSIF’s entire issued share capital at approximately £548 million.
The offer represents a 31 percent premium to BSIF’s closing price of 72.20 pence on Nov. 4, 2025, the last business day before the offer period began, when including the permitted dividend. Excluding the dividend, the premium stands at 28 percent.
Drax, a renewable energy company operating sustainable biomass generation, hydro-electric assets and flexible generation projects, said the acquisition aligns with its strategic priority to allocate up to £2 billion of incremental investment through 2031, primarily in flexible and renewable energy.
“BSIF could potentially be the biggest acquisition our business has ever made,” said Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax. “It represents an attractive opportunity to substantially grow our renewable generation business, while being highly complementary to the Wider Drax Group’s existing operations and FlexGen portfolio.”
The transaction provides Drax with direct access to a 0.9-gigawatt renewable portfolio of operating and under-construction solar and wind assets, plus a development pipeline exceeding 1 gigawatt (2.9 gigawatts gross capacity) to be constructed over the next decade.
BSIF, established in 2013 as the first UK-listed investment company focused primarily on UK solar energy infrastructure, has grown into a scaled participant in the UK renewable energy market. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company owned an operational solar portfolio of 121 photovoltaic plants, six wind farms and 109 small-scale UK onshore wind turbines, with total capacity of 748.7 megawatts. Including a 25 percent stake in a joint venture with GLIL Infrastructure, BSIF’s total operating capacity reached 851.8 megawatts.
The company’s development pipeline as of Dec. 31, 2025, comprised 946 megawatts of solar projects and 1,915 megawatts of battery energy storage system projects.
For the financial year ended June 30, 2025, BSIF generated underlying earnings of approximately £95 million, EBITDA of £130 million and operating free cash flow of £118 million.
Michael Gibbons CBE, chair of BSIF, said the company’s board acted decisively to initiate a formal sale process following an earlier evaluation of strategic options and shareholder feedback indicating a clear preference for value-maximising options.
“Since autumn 2022, a changed interest rate environment has contributed to BSIF Shares trading at a consistent double-digit discount to NAV,” Gibbons said. “The BSIF Board is pleased with the conclusion of this process and believes the Acquisition at a 31 per cent premium … represents a highly attractive outcome for BSIF Shareholders.”
The BSIF directors, advised by Deutsche Numis and Rothschild & Co, have unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the scheme. Directors holding 176,800 BSIF shares, representing approximately 0.03 percent of issued share capital, have provided irrevocable undertakings to vote in favor.
The acquisition remains subject to approval by BSIF shareholders at a court meeting and general meeting, as well as court sanction and clearance under the UK National Security and Investment regime. A majority in number of scheme shareholders representing at least 75 percent of votes cast must approve the scheme at the court meeting, while a special resolution requires 75 percent approval at the general meeting.
The scheme document containing further information is expected to be distributed within 28 days, with the transaction expected to become effective during the third quarter of 2026.
Drax Bidco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Drax, will implement the acquisition. The offer represents an enterprise value for BSIF of approximately £1.082 billion.
