Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its fund CI-II, along with its partners Highland Group Holdings and Siemens Financial Services have agreed to sell 80% of the stake in the German offshore wind farm, Veja Mate.
Image: CIP and partners sell stake in Veja Mate to European consortium. Photo: Courtesy of Ingka Group.
CIP and its partners are selling the stake in the Veja Mate wind farm to a European consortium that consists of Commerz Real, wpd invest, KGAL, and the Ingka Group. Siemens Financial Services will continue to hold the remaining 20% of stake in the wind farm and CI-II will remain a lender to the project.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners partner Michael Hannibal said: “After financial close of the Veja Mate project in June 2015 and the subsequent delivery of the 402 MW offshore wind farm four months ahead of schedule and below budget, the divestment of CI-II’s 23.4% ownership stake has been a good opportunity for CIP and its investors to realize part of its investment in Veja Mate.
“CI-II continues to be a debt provider to the project company, which provides a long-term stable cash flow to its investors. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank Siemens and Highland for the good collaboration and welcome the new shareholders to the project.”
Commerz Real and Ingka Group have acquired a stake of €200m each in the project, which will be located 95km from Borkum island coast in the North Sea, in the German Exclusive Economic Zone.
Veja Mate offshore wind farm will be powered by 67 of Siemens’ SWT-6.0-154 turbines, each with 6MW of power generating capacity. The wind farm can generate enough electricity to power nearly 400,000 German households annually, while avoiding more than 18 million tons of CO2 emissions during the lifetime of the project and it has been in operation since 2017.
Turbines for this project are claimed to have been designed to operate for a period of 25 years. Initially, the maintenance agreement with Siemens was for 15 years. Siemens Gamesa will continue to act as the technical partner in the framework of a full-service agreement.
Ingka Group Ingka Investments head Krister Mattsson said: “With this 25% stake, we make another step towards our 2020 target about renewable energy production exceeding our energy consumption.
“It supports our sustainability targets, where renewable energy and energy independence play an important role. Investing in wind farms is part of our activities to support the financial strength of the company and contributes to our climate positive ambition.”