With the first wave of Enterprise Initiative Scheme (EIS) funded Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants now nearing the end of their three year EIS term, the majority of our clients who had opted to seek to acquire an AD plant by way of a right of first refusal are now seeking to exercise those rights.
We are encountering a number of issues;
Review the documentation in which the “Right of First Refusal” is contained to make sure that you are in a position to react to any notice served by the generator within any stated time periods.
Talk to your bank ahead of the generator giving their notice so that you know at the outset what funding you have available.
Make sure that you have all the necessary plant performance data for disclosure to potential funders.
Talk to the right people. We deal with a number of businesses focused on providing advice to farmers looking to buy out their AD Plants. Talk to them as they will know which banks are willing to fund buy outs and what they are likely to need.
Generally time scales are quite tight. It’s essential that you are organised from the outset so you are in a position to either pre-empt or react to any notice served by the generator.
For more advice on this or any other renewables project, please speak to a member of our dedicated renewables team.
