Crédit Agricole Private Equity invests in solar tracking specialist Exosun

For immediate release – October 13, 2010

Crédit Agricole Private Equity is to invest in Exosun, a manufacturer and general contractor in the solar tracking market. The raising of €4.5 million of new equity capital has been structured by Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s Renewable Energies team via the FCPR Capenergie fund.

Founded in June 2007 in Martillac (Gironde) by Frédéric Conchy, Dominique Rochier and Jean-Noël de Charentenay, Exosun designs, develops and produces turnkey photovoltaic or thermal solar power plants equipped with innovative solar tracking systems.

Its Exotrack tracker is an original system for tracking the course of the sun, with a tilting and rotation system that can increase a solar power plant’s energy production by 20-40% compared with a fixed installation. The company is currently the only tracker designer in France.

From manufacturing trackers to creating solar power stations, Exosun acts as a real general contractor. Its aim is to establish itself as a key player in solar tracking and concentration in the international market.

Frédéric Conchy, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, comments: “Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s investment in our company will enable us to step up the rate of our development projects, with the commissioning of new output between now and 2010, and also enable us to offer proprietary solutions that reduce the cost of kilowatt hours of solar energy.”

Serge Savasta, head of Renewable Energies at Crédit Agricole Private Equity, adds: “We are very pleased to be working with this pioneering young French company in the solar tracking market.  Exosun offers an effective solution that has already proven its worth, with the opening in Martillac of France’s first solar farm equipped with trackers on behalf of a key player from the energy industry.”

This marks Capenergie’s 13th investment and strengthens its presence in products and services relating to solar energy.

Exosun
Frédéric Conchy, Chairman
Jean-Noël de Charentenay, Chief Executive Officer
Dominique Rochier, Chief Executive Officer

Crédit Agricole Private Equity
Serge Savasta, Head of Renewable Energies
Bérengère Corson, Associate, Renewable Energies

Investor advisors
Legal: Philippe Torre and Mathieu Laval, Cabinet RMT
Financial: Frédéric Mazel, Fiduciaire Leydet

Company advisor
Legal: Pierre Gramage
Financial: Gilles Copin and Guillaume Queyrat, Edmond de Rothschild Entreprises Patrimoniales Croissance

About Crédit Agricole Private Equity

Crédit Agricole Private Equity, an AMF-authorised investment management company and whollyowned subsidiary of Crédit Agricole S.A., specialises in direct private equity investment in unlisted companies. A multi-specialist, Crédit Agricole Private Equity has 50 investment teams focusing on different segments of the private equity market (LBO & Expansion, Venture Capital, Mezzanine, Renewable Energy, PPP Infrastructure, Liquidity Solutions, Co-Investment) and manages a total of €2.8 billion in various types of private equity vehicle (FCPR, SICAR, FCPI and SCR). Crédit Agricole Private Equity supports entrepreneurs in their expansion plans.
www-rec.omnescapital.com

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