Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Renewables Infrastructure Group Ltd on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire an equity interest in the Merkur offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
Renewables Infrastructure will take an approximately 36% stake in Merkur and has partnered with APG, a Dutch pension investor, on the project. APG will require the remaining stake of around 64% in the 396 megawatt operational wind farm.
Upon completion, or shortly thereafter, Renewables Infrastructure plans to sell-down a share in Merkur to minority co-investors managed by InfraRed, its investment manager. At that point, Renewables Infrastructure's equity interest in the wind farm will fall to around 25%. When the deal completes, Merkur will represent around 8% of Renewables Infrastructure's portfolio value.
The project comprises 66 of General Electric Co's Haliade-150, 6 megawatt offshore wind turbines, for which GE Renewable Energy provides operations & maintenance services under a ten-year contract. Commercial operations at Merkur began June 2019 and the project has "an attractive feed-in-tariff" which runs through to June 3033 and is followed by a floor price which covers another six years.
The current debt financing in the Merkur project is at a fixed rate and fully amortising within the first subsidy period.
Merkur will be bought from a consortium of Partners Group, DEME Concessions, GE Energy Financial Services, ADEME, and a private fund separately managed by InfraRed.
Renewables Infrastructure said it will finance its investment using proceeds from a recent capital raising plus a drawdown from its revolving acquisition facility.
"The board of [Renewables Infrastructure] is delighted to announce the company's third offshore wind investment and our second investment in Germany. We are pleased to be growing our presence in the European offshore wind market which is making an increasingly important contribution to the decarbonisation of energy usage," said Chair Helen Mahy.
Shares in Renewables Infrastructure were marginally higher at 128.63 pence in London on Tuesday morning.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
