Banco Santander hires ANZ for sale of Taralga wind farm
Spain's Banco Santander has hired ANZ Banking Group as financial advisor for the sale of the bank's 90% interest in the 106.8 MW Taralga wind park in Australia.According to sources, bidders are now signing confidentiality agreements as they expect to receive information memorandums (IMs) next week. First round offers will be made during the first week of October. The sale process should be concluded in December.
Banco Santander hopes to fetch between A$250 million and A$300 million. BlueNRGY LLC owns the remaining 10% stake
Infrastructure Capital Group, Whitehelm Capital and AMP Capital and foreign renewable energy companies are said to be among the interested parties.
The Taralga wind farm is located near New South Wales state’s city of Goulburn. It has a 10-year power purchase agreement to supply EnergyAustralia. The facilities comprises 51 wind turbines, production of electricity began in December last year.
The total project investment was $280 million. It was financed by Santander, CBD Energy, Danish export credit agency EKF, ANZ and the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
In December last year Santander achieved a $2 billion deal with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in Canada to transfer its portfolio of renewable energy, but the Taralga wind park was excluded from the portfolio because of the clean energy sector crisis in Australia.
