December 5, 2016
GI Capital Management (“GICAM”) has significantly scaled up its initiative in real asset management in Japan by adding a mega solar project under contract.
GICAM has been awarded a contract for the management of Tomakomai Mega Solar Plant #1 (“Tomakomai PV”) which is currently under construction in the City of Tomakomai in Hokkaido Prefecture.
Tomakomai PV is a 38.4MW photovoltaic facility on a site of approximately 78,000 square meters, or 192.7 acres. The construction of the plant started in October 2016. It is equipped with a large-scale battery storage system designed to control its power output and help stabilize the grid to which it connects. Apart from those of major power utilities, Tomakomai PV will be largest in capacity among solar plants under construction or in operation in Japan with a battery storage system. Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., with a strong expertise in power management and storage technologies, is the engineering, procurement and construction partner of the project, which is due to be completed in August 2018.
GICAM, together with Green Power Development Corporation of Japan, a developer based in Tokyo, spearheaded the development of the Tomakomai project since 2015. Having secured development capital from Aquila Capital, a leading independent asset manager in Germany specializing in alternative and real asset management, through its infrastructure development fund, GICAM has subsequently closed a project financing deal for the construction of the Plant with Mizuho Bank as the loan arranger. GICAM is already entrusted with the managing of a mega solar facility in Hiroshima Prefecture which has been in operation since 2014. The Tomakomai project is the second entity to award a contract to GICAM for the management of its mega solar plant.
GI Capital Management Ltd., founded in 2010, is a fully licensed broker-dealer and asset manager under the Japanese law. GICAM is primarily focused on alternative investment and has been providing Japanese investors with innovative products and solutions from around the glove. More recently, it has been developing and offering to clients opportunities to invest in real assets, whose stable long-term return is expected to meet the needs of investors who are faced with historically low interest rates and a plunge in actual and/or expected returns of financial assets. A broad clientele of GICAM includes domestic and overseas financial institutions as well as pension funds and foundations. To better address burgeoning needs of clients for diversification, GICAM is proactively seeking new opportunities in many areas of real asset investment including wind, hydro and biomass power generation among others.
【Contact Information】
GI Capital Management Ltd.
3F Marumasu Bldg, 3-3-8 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083
Tel: +81-3-6256-9500