CEE Group launches innovative, largest German repowering fund

Frank­furt am Main/ Hamburg — Eight Advi­sory has supported the CEE Group in the cons­truc­tion of an inno­va­tive finan­cing model for insti­tu­tio­nal invest­ments in the rene­wa­ble energy sector. For the first time, a consor­tium of banks is provi­ding finan­cing worth billi­ons at fund level without the exis­ting inves­tors having to commit addi­tio­nal equity. 

The CEE Group, foun­ded in 2000, is a Hamburg-based asset mana­ger specia­li­zing in the acqui­si­tion of solar, onshore wind and battery energy storage projects (BESS) as well as the repowe­ring and hybri­diza­tion of exis­ting plants and imple­ments projects with its own opera­tio­nal teams. Over the past 25 years, the Group has alre­ady reali­zed 103 projects in Europe with a total nomi­nal capa­city of 2.2 GW℗. The assets under manage­ment amount to €2.7 billion (as of Septem­ber 2025). 

The asset mana­ger is now setting new stan­dards for insti­tu­tio­nal invest­ments in rene­wa­ble ener­gies in Germany with a special finan­cing struc­ture. A consor­tium of renow­ned inter­na­tio­nal banks is provi­ding up to €1.6 billion for Germany’s largest repowe­ring fund — the CEE RF9. This is the first time that invest­ment fund finan­cing on this scale has been conso­li­da­ted at port­fo­lio level without the fund inves­tors having to commit addi­tio­nal equity. The cash flows of the opera­ting projects are conside­red a full equity substi­tute. The banking syndi­cate includes CIBC, ING, KfW IPEX-Bank, SMBC, SEB and UniCre­dit; UniCre­dit also acts as Account Bank, Faci­lity & Secu­rity Agent and Hedge Coordinator. 

The finan­cing, which runs until 2030, will enable the repla­ce­ment of exis­ting wind turbi­nes and PV modu­les with state-of-the-art tech­no­logy. At least 29 loca­ti­ons in Germany and France are set to bene­fit. This will increase the gene­ra­tion of green elec­tri­city at estab­lished loca­ti­ons, make even better use of exis­ting infra­struc­ture and acce­le­rate the instal­la­tion of addi­tio­nal capa­city. The result should be a signi­fi­cant expan­sion of the fund port­fo­lio’s rene­wa­ble energy capa­city — from 457 MW℗ to around 1.1 GW℗, which corre­sponds to an increase of 140%. 

Detlef Schrei­ber (photo: CEE), CEO of the CEE Group, explains: “As far as we know, this finan­cing struc­ture is unique in the German market for alter­na­tive invest­ment funds. For the first time, we have achie­ved conso­li­da­tion at the port­fo­lio level of the entire fund — without any addi­tio­nal equity requi­re­ments for our insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors. This not only enables the repay­ment of various exis­ting credit lines, but also secu­res the full finan­cing of our ambi­tious repowe­ring stra­tegy until 2030.” 

Franjo Salic, CIO of CEE Group, adds: “We would like to thank ever­yone invol­ved for their great commit­ment and the trust they have placed in us. Special thanks go to Eight Advi­sory for their disci­pli­ned, struc­tu­red approach that kept this complex tran­sac­tion on track. This inno­va­tive tran­sac­tion was a tour de force and requi­red the close coope­ra­tion of many parties. The fact that we were able to successfully execute such a chal­len­ging syndi­cate toge­ther impres­si­vely under­pins the quality and attrac­ti­ve­ness of the invest­ment case — for both equity and debt investors.” 

Thomas Gummert, Part­ner at Eight Advi­sory, adds: “Finan­cing plays an important role in the imple­men­ta­tion of the energy tran­si­tion. There is no lack of private capi­tal — high-quality projects conti­nue to be very attrac­tive for banks and inves­tors. The successful syndi­ca­ted finan­cing shows that bank finan­cing is also possi­ble at port­fo­lio level if it is covered by strong opera­ting cash flows. We expect that other insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors will also raise debt capi­tal at fund level.”

Advi­sor CEE: Eight Advisory

Finan­cial advice and mode­ling: Thomas Gummert (Part­ner), Mathias Köhler (Direc­tor), Marco Goretzka (Direc­tor), Tris­tan Lizardo (Mana­ger)

Tax advice: Matthias Hogh (Part­ner), Ralph Hack (Direc­tor)

About Eight Advisory

Eight Advi­sory advi­ses entre­pre­neurs, CEOs, inves­tors and banks on tran­sac­tions, restruc­tu­rings and trans­for­ma­ti­ons. The group employs over 1100 people in Central Europe and the Ameri­cas, inclu­ding 121 part­ners, and supports execu­ti­ves in finan­cial and opera­tio­nal decis­­ion-making proces­ses. Eight Advi­sory is an inde­pen­dent inter­na­tio­nal group with offices in Switz­er­land, France, the UK, Belgium, the Nether­lands, Germany and the USA. As a foun­ding member of Eight Inter­na­tio­nal, the company can draw on a global network of inde­pen­dent part­ners in over 30 count­ries in Europe, America, Asia and Ocea­nia. — www.8advisory.com