Greencoat Wind to buy SSE wind farm stake for £350m
Renewable investment fund Greencoat Wind will buy SSE’s 25.1 per cent stake in two wind farms off the coast of Cumbria for £350m.
The Walney wind farms, which are situated nine miles off the Cumbrian coast, have a capacity of 367.2 megawatts.
Danish power company Orsted holds a 50.1 per cent stake in the assets, which started operating in July 2011.
The acquisition is Greencoat’s third investment in wind farms since it listed in 2013. The firm now holds investments in 37 such assets, both onshore and offshore.
As a result of the new purchase, the firm’s generating capacity has now surpassed one gigawatt.
One of the firm’s partners, Laurence Fumagalli, said that the investment should deliver “attractive investment returns”.
“Looking ahead, we continue to see a strong pipeline of investment opportunities, both onshore and offshore, and remain committed to our disciplined investment approach”, he added.
Shares in the FTSE 250 firm slipped just over one per cent in this morning’s trading.
SSE said that the sale was the first stage in its plan to offload £2bn in assets in the next year.
“The sale of Walney marks the first stage of SSE’s disposal plans. As previously announced, a significant part of the disposal programme will be non-core assets”, the firm said in a statement.
“As essentially a financial investment, Walney clearly falls into this category. The transaction is indicative of the quality and optionality contained in SSE’s portfolio of projects and assets, demonstrating its ability to deliver value through disposals.”
The cash from the acquisition will go towards the firm’s five-year, £7.5bn investment plan, which will see the blue-chip stock grow its stake in projects such as the Seagreen, Dogger Bank, and Viking wind farms.
All three projects are currently under construction, with SSE leading the development programme.