Greencoat UK Wind acquires stake in London Array for £717 million

By William Gullotti

Buffalo, N.Y., July 24 – Greencoat UK Wind plc (UKW) announced that, together with other funds managed by its majority shareholder, Schroders Greencoat LLP, acquired the final 25% stake in a wind farm held by Denmark’s Orsted A/S for £717 million, according to a notice and an announcement on Monday.

On June 29, UKW entered into £640 million of new term loan commitments from new and existing lenders.

On June 30, it prepaid £150 million of term loans maturing in November and December and an additional £200 million under its revolving credit facility.

The transactions brought the revolver’s outstanding balance to zero, leaving the group with a cash balance of £499 million.

The deal with Orsted is expected to close July 31, and UKW's total investment is expected to be £444 million, comprising equity investment of £394 million (13.7% net stake) and a £50 million loan investment.

Further details regarding the participants and terms of the aforementioned facilities were not disclosed.

The London Array is a wind farm located in the Thames Estuary and presently operated by the 30% owner, Germany’s RWE AG. The other two stakeholders in the London Array are Canada’s Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) with a 25% stake and UAE’s Masdar with a 20% stake.

London Array was commissioned in May 2013 and has a total capacity of 630MW, earning two renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) per MWh.

London-based Greencoat UK Wind is a renewable infrastructure fund invested in 16 operating U.K. wind farms with net generating capacity of 271.5 MW.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.