hep is Sustainably Successful - "A" Rating in Scope Initial Rating for HEP Kapitalverwaltung AG

Güglingen, 1 September 2021 - The renowned rating company Scope Analysis GmbH awards HEP Kapitalverwaltung AG an "A" grade in its initial rating. The holistic corporate approach, the strong growth strategy, the successful track record and the proactive reduction of risks through the expansion of the management of hep global GmbH convinced the analysts.

hep Receives Excellent Future Forecasts due to Growth and Risk Reduction
hep is currently in a dynamic growth phase. In addition to the expansion into the USA, this also includes an increase in the number of employees and the construction of a new head office in Germany. The proactive handling of the risk, which Scope describes as a "key person risk typical for medium-sized companies", by increasing the size of hep's management team has been positively incorporated into the rating.

"Scope's strong rating shows once again that we are on the cutting edge with our exclusive focus on solar investments in the strongest photovoltaic markets worldwide and our holistic corporate approach," says Christian Hamann, CEO and co-founder of hep. "We see the result as a mandate to play an even greater role in shaping the German financial market in the future. This is exactly what we intend to do with our comprehensive expansion strategy. We show day in and day out: sustainability, growth and returns are not mutually exclusive."

hep Convinces in Rating With Holistic Corporate Approach
In the rating, hep Asset Management scores points for four key factors:

First, the local presence creates optimal market access. hep has its own local branches in the most important target markets.

Secondly, the company's holistic approach to planning, development, construction, operation and monitoring of solar plants is convincing. According to Scope, this ensures that value creation remains in one hand.

Thirdly, the comprehensive track record leads to a significantly reduced risk of asset connection. The hep track record consists of the construction of more than 800 megawatt peak solar capacity for 42 solar parks and the steadily growing project pipeline of currently around 5.3 gigawatt peak.¹ The expectable total revenue of so-called late-stage projects from market values alone amounts to more than EUR 500 million by 2025. The corporate acquisition of the US project developer Peak Clean Energy (now hep Peak Clean Energy) and the majority stake in the solar company ReNew Petra (now hep Petra) in 2020 also provide support.

The fourth positive criterion cited was hep's consistently successful track record. For example, the 27 exits of project developments from 2009 to 2018 achieved an IRR of 8% to 25% p.a. The Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) for private investors are also on target. In addition, the successful placement of the EUR 25 million hep Green Bond in May 2021 stands out positively.

Successful in Sales: hep's Solar Funds
hep offers alternative investment funds with different risk-return profiles that invest in the late stages of project development, construct photovoltaic plants and operate them on a long-term basis. The fact that the AIF have direct access to the 5.3 gigawatt peak pipeline of hep project development is unique on the German investment market and extremely successful. Since the beginning of the year, the public AIF "HEP - Solar Portfolio 2 GmbH & Co. geschlossene Investment KG" has raised around EUR 23 million, more than half of its target volume of EUR 40 million.² In addition, the special AIF "HEP - Solar Projektentwicklung VII" was closed on 30 April 2021. With a placement volume of EUR 51.9 million, a strong signal was set for solar investments.

¹ Status: 31.03.2021
² Status: 26.08.2021

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