The business delivered a strong first quarter with generation in line with the long-term average, an ongoing focus on operations, and recent acquisitions all contributing to our financial results. We continued to advance our development pipeline and are well placed to meet our 2017 growth objectives, both in terms of capital deployment and delivering cash flow growth on a per-share basis.
Over the last five years, we have added approximately 6,200 megawatts of capacity to the business (2,000 megawatts on a proportionate basis), deploying $2.5 billion of BEP equity through a combination of strategic acquisitions and project development. By maintaining our financial and underwriting discipline, we have been able to invest capital at premium returns and deliver per-share cash flow growth consistent with our longer-term targets.
Based on our current operating plans, we anticipate that by the end of 2017 we will have delivered compounded FFO per-share growth of 9% since 2012. This cash flow growth, derived primarily from our portfolio of perpetual assets, underpins our growing distributions and gives us confidence that coupled with our current dividend, we can achieve our long-term total return objective of 12-15% per share.
Financial Results and Operations
Adjusted EBITDA and Funds From Operations (FFO) were $453 million and $166 million, respectively, for the quarter. Performance was driven by generation which was in line with averages for our fleet. Strong inflows in North America were complemented by improved conditions in Colombia and Brazil. Our wind portfolios in Canada, Europe and Brazil all delivered strong output in the quarter.
In North America, hydroelectric generation was above the long-term average and was supported by strong inflows in Canada and the U.S. northeast. Our operating teams are actively managing our reservoirs to optimize generation and prepare for the spring season which brings increased inflows. We successfully cleared all of our eligible capacity into the recent capacity auction in New England at a price of $5.30/kW-month and continue to sell energy, capacity and related products at a premium to current market prices and in excess of our underwritten values.
Our European operations continue to meet expectations and deliver an attractive mix of new growth, project development and capital recycling opportunities. During the quarter, we completed the implementation of a new wind monitoring system which is enabling us to better manage our assets to capture incremental energy and reduce downtime. We also continue to build on recent contracting successes and are advancing discussions with a number of large multinationals to supply them with clean energy from our wind assets. In early March, we completed the sale of two wind farms in Ireland with a combined 137 megawatts of operating wind capacity. The transaction crystallized a 35% compounded annual return since acquisition for BEP shareholders, and generated net proceeds of approximately $60 million.
In Brazil, we continue to benefit from our high-quality assets and deep, local operating expertise. The country continues to emerge from recession and its economic outlook has brightened with the expectation of a return to growth in 2017. Power prices in the country remained volatile, reaching R$200/MWh in the quarter which allowed us to capture premium pricing through our marketing capabilities.
In Colombia, we completed the final privatization step for our 3,000 megawatt Isagen portfolio and its shares were delisted from the Colombian stock exchange at quarter end. We continue to progress our business plan of improving operating efficiencies and advancing 100 megawatts of development to the next stage.
Investment Environment
Our investment pipeline continues to be strong with opportunities in all of our core markets.
During the quarter, we announced that together with our institutional partners, we reached agreements to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Terraform Global and a controlling 51% interest in TerraForm Power. Our share of the total equity investment is approximately $500 million, which we expect to be funded through existing liquidity. This would provide Brookfield Renewable with an ownership interest of approximately 30% in TerraForm Global and 15% in TerraForm Power on a pro-forma basis.
In aggregate, the TerraForm companies own approximately 3,600 megawatt of high-quality, predominantly contracted renewable assets with a majority of their cash flows in the United States. With assets also in Brazil, India and China, the transaction will provide geographical diversification, mark our first meaningful investment into solar and provide a platform for future growth in the sector.
Organic Growth
We continue to deliver organic growth with 15-20% returns on equity by developing and commercializing renewable power projects across our portfolio. In Brazil, we commissioned a 25 megawatt hydro facility during the quarter which, together with construction assets to be completed over the next two years, will contribute approximately $20 million in incremental FFO on an annualized basis. Additional projects in 2019 and 2020 are expected to add another $25-30 million to FFO once completed.
Our development and construction efforts are advancing on scope, schedule and budget. In Europe, we substantially completed a 15 megawatt wind farm and are advancing construction of three wind projects totaling 66 megawatts in Ireland and Scotland. In Brazil, we are advancing the construction of another 47 megawatts of fully contracted hydro. As we build out and commercialize greenfield development assets, we are also replenishing our organic growth pipeline and recently agreed to acquire a 16 megawatt construction-ready wind project, with an option to purchase another project totaling 23 megawatts.
Liquidity
Our liquidity position at quarter-end remained strong at approximately $1.6 billion, and our financial position continues to strengthen with strong operating cash flows, low-cost financing and capital recycling initiatives. We completed a C$250 million offering of preferred units in the quarter and are working on a number of refinancings with the potential to surface an incremental $100 million of net proceeds.
In the present low power price environment, we would expect our distribution payout ratio to remain above our long-run target of 70%. However, as we continue to deliver both organic and acquisition-driven cash flow growth we would expect this to normalize over the medium term. In the meantime, given our robust operating cash flows, investment-grade balance sheet, and strong liquidity position, we continue to have more than adequate resources to fund our growth, capital expenditures and development program, and grow distributions by 5-9% annually.
Outlook
We are very pleased with the progress we have made in the first three months of the year and believe that 2017 has the potential to be another successful year for the business. Our near-term priorities are to progress our active transactions and growth initiatives, maintain high levels of operating availability, and advance our development pipeline on scope, schedule and budget. We remain focused on delivering annualized total returns of 12%-15% over time on a per-share basis, and believe this is achievable in light of the current environment and our business prospects.
Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter.
Sincerely,
Sachin Shah
Chief Executive Officer
May 3, 2017
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This letter to unitholders contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of Canadian provincial securities laws and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and in any applicable Canadian securities regulations. The words “will”, “should”, “could”, “potential”, “tend to”, “target” “future”, “growth”, “expect”, “believe”, “goal”, “plan”, derivatives thereof and other expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events, trends or prospects and which do not relate to historical matters identify the above mentioned and other forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this letter to unitholders include statements regarding the quality of Brookfield Renewable’s business and our expectations regarding our future cash flows, distribution growth and payout ratio. They also include statements regarding our liquidity, the availability of acquisition opportunities, and the timing, completion and sector allocation of acquisitions, dispositions and development projects. Although Brookfield Renewable believes that these forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, you should not place undue reliance on them, or any other forward looking statements or information in this letter to unitholders. The future performance and prospects of Brookfield Renewable are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results of Brookfield Renewable to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by the statements in this letter to unitholders include economic conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate; our ability to sell products and services under contract or into merchant energy markets; weather conditions and other factors which may impact generation levels at our facilities; changes to government regulations, including incentives for renewable energy; our ability to grow within our current markets or expand into new markets; our ability to complete development and capital projects on time and on budget; our inability to finance our operations or fund future acquisitions due to the status of the capital markets; the ability to effectively source, complete and integrate new acquisitions and to realize the benefits of such acquisitions; health, safety, security or environmental incidents; regulatory risks relating to the power markets in which we operate, including relating to the regulation of our assets, licensing and litigation; risks relating to our internal control environment; our lack of control over all of our operations; contract counterparties not fulfilling their obligations; and other risks associated with the construction, development and operation of power generating facilities.
We caution that the foregoing list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements represent our views as of the date of this letter to unitholders and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. While we anticipate that subsequent events and developments may cause our views to change, we disclaim any obligation to update the forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law. For further information on these known and unknown risks, please see “Risk Factors” included in our Form 20-F.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING USE OF NON-IFRS MEASURES
This letter to unitholders contains references to Adjusted EBITDA and Funds From Operations, which are not generally accepted accounting measures under IFRS and therefore may differ from definitions of Adjusted EBITDA and Funds From Operations used by other entities. We believe that these are useful supplemental measures that may assist investors in assessing the financial performance and the cash anticipated to be generated by our operating portfolio. Neither Adjusted EBITDA nor Funds From Operations should be considered as the sole measure of our performance and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, analysis of our financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS.
References to Brookfield Renewable are to Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. together with its subsidiary and operating entities unless the context reflects otherwise.