UK-based energy company Octopus Energy and investment firm GLIL will acquire the stake from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The cash consideration for the transaction comprises a $244 million investment each by Octopus Energy and GIP, which will be invested on behalf of pension funds in the UK.
Enerdatics has estimated the enterprise value (EV) of the transaction to be $1.374 billion, based on analysis of precedent transactions. In May’22, major renewables investor Greencoat Capital acquired a 12.5% stake in the project from GIP for a cash consideration of $490 million and the pro-rata assumption of GIP’s debt in the project, which stood at $885 million. This renders a transaction enterprise value (EV) of $1.374 billion and an implied EV ($M)/MW metric of 9.02 for today’s deal, marking the one of the highest valuation multiples for an operational offshore wind asset in the UK.
The 1.2 GW Hornsea One is located 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea, and comprises 174 Siemens 7MW turbines. The project entered into full commercial operation in December 2019, and benefits from an inflation-linked Contract-for-Difference (CfD) subsidy with 13 years remaining, at a current strike price of $197.84/MWh. Orsted, which owns a 50% stake in the project, will continue to provide operation, maintenance and management services to the wind farm.
Today’s deal marks GIP’s fourth stake sale from the Hornsea one wind farm. The firm acquired a 50% stake in the asset from Orsted in 2018, and has since then divested a 39.9% stake through four separate transactions in 2022. Apart from today’s transaction and the Greencoat deal in May’22, the firm sold a 12.5% stake to investment firms The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) and Equitix in Mar’22 and a further 2.4% stake to TRIG in Jun’22.
The above analysis is proprietary to Enerdatics’ energy analytics team, based on the current understanding of the available data. The information is subject to change and should not be taken to constitute professional advice or a recommendation.
Click to know more about Enerdatics' Renewable Energy M&A, Finance, PPA, and Projects databases.
.jpg)
