Macquarie Asset Management has agreed to sell stakes in 2.4 GW of UK offshore wind farms to UK investment manager Equitix, the asset management arm of Aussie financial services giant Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) said on Monday.
In the deal with undisclosed terms, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 will offload its 50% interest in Offshore Wind Company to funds managed by Equitix.
Offshore Wind Company owns various direct and indirect stakes in the portfolio of eight offshore wind farms, including direct stakes in the 400-MW Rampion, 353-MW Galloper and 210-MW Westermost Rough facilities and indirect holdings in the 576-MW Gwynt y Mor, 317-MW Sheringham Shoal, 270-MW Lincs, 196-MW Lynn and Inner Dowsing and 90-MW Rhyl Flats offshore wind power plants.
Macquarie Asset Management and its Green Investment Group will continue to manage stakes in the latter five wind parks together with its investments in the 573-MW Race Bank and 714-MW East Anglia One offshore wind farms.
Macquarie, along with partners, is also developing the 2-GW West of Orkney, 1.5-GW Outer Dowsing, 1.2-GW Rampion 2 and 353-MW Five Estuaries offshore wind projects.
David Tilstone, a managing director at Macquarie Asset Management, commented that the projects have helped establish the UK as a leading offshore wind market and the company now looks forward to advancing the next phase of projects to help meet the UK’s goal of 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
“This transaction is part of our triple defence portfolio construction strategy wherein we are building a diversified portfolio of essential infrastructure assets with long term inflation linkage for our core funds,” said Equitix chief investment officer Achal Bhuwania.
