Wednesday 6 February 2013

Greencoat UK fund seeks £205m for six wind farms

Greencoat UK fund seeks £205m for six wind farms

Greencoat UK Wind has unveiled ambitious plans to raise £205 million to buy wind farms by listing its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

The infrastructure fund, managed by Greencoat Capital, aims to buy a total of six wind farms from energy firms SSE and RWE. Earlier today SSE announced it has agreed to sell four farms with a total generation capacity of 79.5MW to Greencoat Capital for around £140 million.

Greencoat claims its plans are backed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which will buy a share and said it aims to provide its shareholders with “a sustainable income stream”.

Stephen Lilley, Partner of Greencoat Capital, said: "Operating wind farms should make attractive investment assets, particularly for investors seeking long-term, predictable returns. Greencoat UK Wind represents the first opportunity to invest into a listed infrastructure fund, fully invested in operating UK wind farms."

Under the agreements, the utilities will continue to operate the wind farms and SSE said it would continue to use the energy generated from the wind farms as it signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Greencoat.

Gregor Alexander, Finance Director of SSE, said: "This agreement represents the latest step in a programme of acquisitions and disposals to optimise our wind farm portfolio. Fundamentally, SSE owns generation capacity to meet the electricity needs of its own customers, which is why we were pleased to be able to establish new PPAs before disposing of these assets.”

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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