AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Oct 8, 2015) - Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector in the third quarter of 2015.
Total global corporate funding in the solar sector, including venture capital/private equity (VC), debt financing, and public market financing raised by public companies, came to $6.2 billion (B), compared to $5.9B in Q2 2015.
Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group, commented, "The third quarter of 2015 has been eventful, especially in the equity markets. Although solar power demand continues to grow, solar stocks have made a U-turn in the last three months, affecting public market financing, which was down by about a billion dollars excluding IPOs."
VC funding increased to $257M in 15 deals, compared to $142M in 24 deals in Q2 2015. Solar downstream companies continued to draw most of the VC investments with $114M in seven deals.
Chart: Solar VC Funding Q3 2014-Q3 2015
The Top 5 VC deals in Q3 2015 included the $105M raised by Silicor Materials, followed by the $80M raised by Sunlight Financial. Alcazar Energy and Ampt raised $25M each, followed by HiQ Solar, which raised $11M.
Public market financing fell to $1.8B this quarter compared to $2.3B in Q2. There were three IPOs this quarter: TerraForm Global raised $675M and Sunrun raised $250.6M. Grenergy Renovables raised $4.2M.
"With yieldcos falling out of favor, their impact on public marketing financing fell by half this quarter to $802M," commented Prabhu.
Debt financing saw an increase with about $4.1B, compared to $3.4B in Q2 2015. There were three securitization deals announced this quarter totaling $335M.
Announced large-scale project funding totaled $2.5B in 23 deals.
Chart: Solar Top 5 Announced Large-Scale Projects Funded By Dollar Amount in Q3 2015
After two record quarters, residential/commercial solar funds announced in Q3 2015 dropped to $997M in five deals, but YTD total has now surpassed $4B from 2014.
There were 22 corporate M&A transactions in the solar sector in Q3. Solar downstream companies accounted for most of the M&A transactions with 12.
The largest disclosed M&A transactions by dollar amount was led by the $2.2B acquisition of Vivint Solar by SunEdison.
There were 42 large-scale solar project acquisitions totaling $1.2B with about 3.9 GW changing hands.
Chart: Solar Top 5 Project Acquisitions By Dollar Amount in Q3 2015
Mercom also tracked 346 large-scale project announcements worldwide in Q3 2015 totaling 11.7 GW.
To learn more about the report, visit: http://bit.ly/MercomSolarQ32015
About Mercom Capital Group
Mercom Capital Group, llc, is a global communications and research and consulting firm focused exclusively on clean energy and financial communications. Mercom delivers widely read industry funding and market intelligence reports covering Solar Energy, Wind Energy and Smart Grid. Mercom's consulting division advises cleantech companies on new market entry, custom market intelligence and overall strategic decision-making. Mercom's communications division helps clean energy companies and financial institutions build powerful relationships with media, analysts, government decision-makers, local communities and strategic partners. For more information about Mercom Capital Group, visit: http://www.mercomcapital.com. To get a copy of Mercom's popular market intelligence reports, visit: http://mercomcapital.com/market_intelligence.php