Sylvain Delion
Managing Director – Head of Investment and Structured Finance
Sylvain Delion is a seasoned professional with experience of developing, financing and investing in greenfield infrastructure assets across all sectors, possessing in particular a deep expertise in project finance debt raising. Sylvain closed financing transactions in the infrastructure and renewable sectors, representing more than €10bn of investments, in numerous different European countries and covering a wide variety of sectors: renewable, transport, electricity transmission, digital infrastructure, accommodation, healthcare. He led the structuring of many complex and award-winning transactions.
Prior to joining Renewable Power Capital, Sylvain was Managing Director at Macquarie Capital where he was successively Head of Debt for the Infrastructure and Energy Capital team and for the Green Investment Group, being responsible for all debt raising activities. Sylvain holds a MSc with a major in Finance from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.
What’s your role at RPC?
My title is Head of Investments and Structured Finance. My role is to oversee all our investment and debt raising activities, ensuring they fit with our business plan and overall strategy.
Investments consist of acquiring renewable projects across Europe and signing development joint-venture agreements with partners to help them develop projects. Debt provides a substantial part of the required capital to build projects and we need to ensure it provides the best value-for-money as well as sufficient flexibility for RPC.
What’s a typical working day for you?
Each day is different and the different activities within a given day vary a lot, but mainly consist of interfacing with many different people.
In the morning I could talk to a developer to understand their pipeline of projects in Spain, then have a phone call with our development team in Sweden to understand their view of local permitting dynamics and finally discuss with my colleague next to me, how to implement a particular feature in a financial model.
In the afternoon of the same day, I could start with a conference call with a bank to understand their appetite to finance a particular project in the UK, followed by a meeting with our lawyers to run through a debt agreement for a Polish project and finish with a call with our Power Market team to get an explanation on how the Finnish power balancing market functions.
What have you found during your time at RPC?
Cooperation and teamwork is key. Given the complexity of our projects and the number of stakeholders involved (developers, landowners, planners, buyers of electricity, banks…etc), we need a vast array of different skills and profiles to be able to anticipate and solve all issues. Having a common vision and strategy to ensure we are all pulling in the same direction is key.
What’s your proudest career moment?
It was when I saw a long cable-stayed bridge, which I modestly helped finance, complete and open to circulation (I worked in the infrastructure sector before working in renewable). A super piece of engineering which also facilitated the everyday life of thousands of people!
What do you do in your spare time?
My personal activities are quite varied. I strive to spend as much time as I can with my family: going on holidays, to movies, watching my kids playing sports or simply discussing with them what happened during the day, and I like to play video games (mainly strategy games). I am trying to keep fit through running and rowing but I also enjoy good food (so I very regularly go to restaurants with my wife): two conflicting objectives!
Where’s your favourite place in Europe?
Provence in France is my favourite place in Europe. Mine and my wife’s families are from there and it has everything you need to have a good time: very good weather (it’s sunny and warm), swimming pools, close to the sea and other natural features, delicious food and excellent wine.
What’s your favourite clean technology and why?
Solar PV with battery storage are my favourite technologies. 1 year ago, I had such a system installed in my home in London and it works perfectly. I find it fascinating following all the data about production and consumption in real time on my phone and realising that I can be fully self-sufficient for more than half of the year. A demonstration of renewable energy in action!