Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ:AY) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Jarvi: Okay. And how would you say returns are trending? I don’t know, maybe it’s a levered IRR. If you look back at what you were doing in sort of organic greenfield investments a year ago, what you’re doing this year, and then as you’re looking into those 2024 projects, any indications of where you’ve been able to move your return objectives and hurdles to?

Santiago Seage: Yes. Our philosophy here, the way we calculate our hurdle rates probably would be let’s say following a very similar methodology to what you would be doing if you were in our shoes. And therefore, when interest rates go up, our hurdle rates move up automatically. And as I mentioned at the beginning of the call, what we are seeing is that the market is responding to that. So, at this point in time, we are working with returns that clearly meet our hurdle rates and hurdler rates by today without trying to be too specific and obviously different by geography situation, technology, et cetera, et cetera, but we are clearly in the double-digit return territory.

Mark Jarvi: And when you say you’re moving them up, I assume you’re kind of in reference to the risk-free rate, but are you able to, I guess, exceed your hurdle rates at opportunities just given the breadth of the demand for clean energy and just maybe just sometimes leveraging a site or a specific nuance of a project?

Santiago Seage: We are.

Mark Jarvi: Okay. And then maybe you can just kind of comment on the Spanish market. When you’re looking there from brownfield or greenfield opportunities, how are returns there compared to what you’re seeing in North America, and just maybe overall the context of capital flows in Spain in terms of, like if you ever considered a minority interest sell downs, how is the activity level in terms of M&A on either minority sales or outright asset or portfolio sales?

Santiago Seage: So, what we are seeing, and probably this comment applies in general, but what we are seeing is that the changes that we have seen in the North American market are coming to Europe a bit later. And therefore, as of today, we are feeling more comfortable finding the right returns in North America probably than in Europe. We think that it’s coming. Probably competitors in Europe, it’s taking them a bit longer to realize that cost of capital is higher. So, as of today, we think that has happened in North America and is happening as we speak in Europe, but it’s a bit behind.

Mark Jarvi: Does that not create an opportunity then in terms of a value arbitrage where your assets might be more valued in the hands of some in Europe versus what you could deploy capital in North America, or is it too late to try to act on that now?

Santiago Seage: Well, we always look for that kind of opportunities, and if we found an opportunity, and obviously we would look at situations like the one you described, it’s something we would act on. In fact, today we have discussed, it’s not in Europe, but we have discussed a potential stake we would be selling because we found a situation where we believe that someone is ready to pay more than what we believe would be reasonable for us.

Mark Jarvi: Okay. All right, I’ll leave it there. Thanks for the time.

Operator: [Operator instructions]. Our next question comes from William Grippin of UBS. Your line is open.

William Grippin: Great, thanks. Good morning. Just want to start here with kind of a basic question, but on the earmarked investment amounts that you provide, does that reflect only the corporate capital piece, or is that the total investment including any project level debt that you expect?

Santiago Seage: That is our investment. So, it would be, if you want, our equity in the investment without any project bet or any tax equity or any third-party financing.

William Grippin: Got it. Right. And so, on that front, I mean, good to see some capital recycling here with the Monterey project, but could you elaborate on maybe other sources of capital to fund your planned investments in 2024 beyond the revolver?