Altarea, a French real estate group, has bought Prejeance Industrial, a rooftop solar developer, from Repsol for $150.7 million. Prejeance puts small solar arrays on farm sheds and commercial roofs. It operates about 42 MW. The price Altarea paid comes in two parts, and the smaller one says more about what it was really buying.
Key takeaways
- Altarea announced on 4 July 2024 that it had acquired Prejeance Industrial, a France-based rooftop solar developer, from Repsol for a total deal value of $150.7 million.
- The Altarea price for Prejeance Industrial comprises $123.8 million for solar plants in operation, in construction or under development, plus a $26.9 million commitment for goodwill.
- As of June 2024, Prejeance Industrial owned and operated about 42 MW of installed solar capacity in France and had a development pipeline of almost 400 MW, including about 41 MW under construction.
- Prejeance Industrial specialises in rooftop solar projects of 100 kW to 500 kW, mainly on agricultural sheds, and handles development, construction, asset management and financing.
- Of the 15 French solar corporate deals Enerdatics records for 2023 and 2024, seven carry a disclosed value, and Altarea's is the only priced deal of 2024.
How did Altarea split the $150.7 million?
Most of it pays for assets and a smaller part pays for the business itself. Leap records $123.8 million for solar plants in operation, in construction or under development. On top of that, Altarea has committed to pay $26.9 million of goodwill.
Goodwill is the part of an acquisition price that exceeds the value of the identifiable assets. It is what a buyer pays for things that do not sit on a balance sheet as separate items: the team, its relationships, its ability to keep originating projects. Here it makes up about 18 percent of the total.
That is a meaningful share for a developer with a modest operating fleet. It tells you Altarea was not just buying 42 MW of rooftops. It was buying a machine for finding and building more of them, and it was willing to pay separately for that machine.
What does a per-MW view of the price really show?
It shows that a single headline figure hides very different assets. Leap records 442 MW for the deal, which combines the operating fleet with the pipeline. On that basis the price works out at about $0.34 million per MW, a figure that looks low until you see how little of the 442 MW is built.
Narrow the denominator and the picture changes. On simple arithmetic, the $150.7 million total is about $3.6 million per operating MW. Counting the roughly 41 MW under construction alongside the 42 MW in operation, it is about $1.8 million per MW. Neither figure is a true valuation, because the pipeline has value too. But together they show that the buyer was paying mainly for what Prejeance could still build, not just what it had.
The size of each site matters here. Prejeance reported more than 2,000 projects in 2023, each between 100 kW and 500 kW. Every one of those needs its own roof arrangement and its own connection. A portfolio of that many small sites is hard to assemble, and that difficulty is part of what the goodwill pays for.
Why would a property group want a farm-roof solar developer?
Because rooftops are property, and Altarea is in the property business. Altarea describes itself as the French leader in low-carbon urban transformation, with a full range of real estate services. Leap records that the acquisition strengthens Altarea's solar development platform in France, in line with its strategic decision to take on new activities.
The fit is in the model. Prejeance's installations give farmers additional income at no extra cost, which is a property arrangement as much as an energy one. The power is expected to be sold through self-consumption and corporate power purchase agreements. Self-consumption means the building's owner or occupant uses the solar output directly on site, instead of exporting it to the grid.
That gives a real estate group two things it understands. It gets long-term agreements tied to buildings, and it gets a way to offer low-carbon power to commercial tenants and public sites. Leap records that Prejeance's portfolio already spans agricultural sheds, commercial roofs and public buildings. Prejeance will be consolidated into Altarea's accounts from the second half of 2024.
Enerdatics' data shows how rarely French solar platform deals are priced. Leap records 15 corporate deals in French solar announced in 2023 and 2024. Seven carry a disclosed value. In 2024 there were three, and Altarea's $150.7 million is the only one with a price. The six priced deals from 2023 were all fundraising rounds, including Technique Solaire's $213.9 million raise from its existing shareholders and the $142.45 million that Eurazeo, Bpifrance and Credit Agricole invested in TSE. The stake sold in those rounds is not part of the record, so their per-MW figures cannot be compared with an outright purchase like Altarea's.
What does the deal signal for French rooftop solar?
It signals that French rooftop solar platforms are attracting buyers from outside the energy sector. A real estate group paying goodwill for a farm-roof developer is a bet that distributed solar is becoming a property service. That widens the pool of potential buyers for similar platforms beyond utilities and infrastructure funds.
It also shows an energy major choosing where to focus. Repsol sold a French rooftop business while building positions in other parts of the energy transition. In April 2024 it agreed to take 40 percent of a Spanish biomethane producer, as covered in Repsol's Genia stake. The sale suggests small-scale French rooftops were not where it saw its own growth.
The open question is how fast Altarea can turn the pipeline into operating capacity. Almost 400 MW of projects against 42 MW in operation is a ratio that rewards execution. The goodwill Altarea paid assumes it will deliver.
Frequently asked questions
What did Altarea buy from Repsol?Altarea acquired Prejeance Industrial, a France-based rooftop solar developer, from Repsol, announced on 4 July 2024. The total deal value is $150.7 million, including $26.9 million of goodwill.
How big is Prejeance Industrial's portfolio?As of June 2024, Prejeance owned and operated about 42 MW of solar capacity in France. It had a development pipeline of almost 400 MW, including about 41 MW under construction, built mainly from projects of 100 kW to 500 kW on agricultural sheds.
What is goodwill in an acquisition?Goodwill is the amount a buyer pays above the value of a company's identifiable assets. It reflects intangible value such as the team, customer relationships and the ability to develop future projects.
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