The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) acquired the stake from UK-based investment firm InfraRed Capital Partners. Following deal completion, Dutch pension managers APG and TRIG will own a 64.3% and 35.7% stake in the project, respectively. Located 45 km off the island of Borkum, the Merkur wind project comprises 66 General Electric (GE) Haliade‐150 6MW offshore wind turbines which were fully commissioned in Jun '19. The project benefits from a guaranteed Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) until 2033 and has a ten-year operations & maintenance (O&M) agreement with GE Renewable Energy for the service and maintenance of the turbines. The acquisition increases TRIG’s investments in the attractive German renewables market to 11% of its total portfolio value, with the Merkur project representing 6% of TRIG’s combined holdings.
The Merkur wind farm required a total investment of more than €1.6bn and reached a financial close in 2016 following a capital raise from equity investors and bank lenders. A group of ten international and local banks committed ~€1.2bn of non-recourse, senior secured debt to the project. The lenders’ group comprised KfW - who committed more than €360mn - as well as nine commercial banks including ABN Amro, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, and Société Générale. The equity financing commitments came from a consortium of five investors, comprising Partners Group, InfraRed Capital Partners, DEME, GE Energy Financial Services, and ADEME. All the companies held a stake in the project and later exited when APG and InfraRed Capital acquired a 100% equity interest in the asset in Mar’20.
For TRIG, the deal represents its third major investment in operational renewables assets in 2022, building on the acquisition of a 10.2% stake in the 1.2 GW Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm from Global Infrastructure Partners. TRIG also acquired a 49% stake in 49% stake in the 364 MW Valdesolar PV project in Spain from Repsol. The firm follows a strategy of balancing its power price risk across the largely subsidized markets of the UK, Germany, and France and unsubsidized markets in the Nordics and Iberia.
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.
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