Danish pension funds close on US$2.7B acquisition of Walney Extension offshore wind project
This article is part of a daily series of IPP articles. If you want to know more about the latest power generation projects globally visit our IPP Today section. You can receive them by email on a daily basis
Danish pension funds, Pensionskassernes Administration (PKA) and PFA Pension have close £2 billion (US$2,7 billion)acquisition of 50% stake in 660 MW Walney Extension offshore wind farm.
International law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has advised institutional investors on the long-term financing for the acquisition of a 50% stake in the offshore wind farm.
Danish pension funds PKA and PFA have each acquired a 25% ownership interest from Ørsted (formerly known as DONG Energy) in the deal which is valued at £2 billion (US$2,7 billion), of which £1.3 billion (US$1.73 billion) is being funded through the issuance of an investment-grade bond.
The anchor institutional investors subscribing to the financing, advised by WFW, included Aviva Investors, Legal & General Investment Management Real Assets and Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions (MIDIS).
Walney Extension is located approximately 19km from the Walney Island coast in Cumbria and covers an area of 145km2. With a total capacity of 659 MW it will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm once online (expected in Q2 2018). It will comprise a total of 87 wind turbines: 40 MHI Vestas V164-8.0MW turbines and 47 Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0 MW-154 turbines.
Ørsted is constructing the wind farm under a full-scope EPC contract as well as providing long-term operations and maintenance services from its O&M base in Barrow-in-Furness and a route to market for the power generated by the project.
We have lately informed about other offshore wind farms in UK:
