The U.K. Green Investment Bank
raised 475 million Euro's ($541 million) for its offshore-wind fund as
it seeks to spur development of a technology in which Britain already
leads the world.
AMF Pensionsforsakring AB and Strathclyde Pension Fund were among investors in the second round of fundraising, bringing the total cash to 818 million pounds, the GIB said Tuesday in a statement. The bank announced the fund in June 2014 and is seeking to raise 1 billion pounds from several rounds.
The fundraising “highlights the growing confidence that home-grown and international investors have in well-developed and well-managed offshore wind assets,” said Karl Smith, fund managing director at the bank. “We are in advanced discussions with other potential investors and progressing quickly towards final close and reaching our 1 billion-pound target.”
Britain already has more offshore wind power than the rest of the world put together, with 4,494 megawatts of installed capacity at the end of 2014. The GIB’s fund will buy into projects, freeing up cash for developers such as Dong Energy A/S to spend on new wind parks.
The fund also acquired the bank’s right to a 10 percent stake in RWE AG’s operating 576-megawatt Gwynt y Mor wind farm off north Wales, according to the statement. It already has a 24.95 percent stake in RWE’s 90-megawatt Rhyl Flats farm, also off north Wales, and a 20 percent interest in Statkraft AS’s 317-megawatt Sheringham Shoal farm off eastern England.
AMF Pensionsforsakring AB and Strathclyde Pension Fund were among investors in the second round of fundraising, bringing the total cash to 818 million pounds, the GIB said Tuesday in a statement. The bank announced the fund in June 2014 and is seeking to raise 1 billion pounds from several rounds.
The fundraising “highlights the growing confidence that home-grown and international investors have in well-developed and well-managed offshore wind assets,” said Karl Smith, fund managing director at the bank. “We are in advanced discussions with other potential investors and progressing quickly towards final close and reaching our 1 billion-pound target.”
Britain already has more offshore wind power than the rest of the world put together, with 4,494 megawatts of installed capacity at the end of 2014. The GIB’s fund will buy into projects, freeing up cash for developers such as Dong Energy A/S to spend on new wind parks.
The fund also acquired the bank’s right to a 10 percent stake in RWE AG’s operating 576-megawatt Gwynt y Mor wind farm off north Wales, according to the statement. It already has a 24.95 percent stake in RWE’s 90-megawatt Rhyl Flats farm, also off north Wales, and a 20 percent interest in Statkraft AS’s 317-megawatt Sheringham Shoal farm off eastern England.
Read more: U.K. Green Investment Bank Raises 475 Million Euro's for Wind - Bloomberg Business
