GE Ventures AG, a Liechtenstein-based investment firm founded in 2020 that invests primarily in continental Europe, has acquired a 26 per cent share in Global Tech I Offshore Wind GmbH, the company behind the 400 MW Global Tech I offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
GE Ventures has acquired the shares through a series of transactions from seven different sellers through two acquisition vehicles, leading to a consolidation of the ownership structure of Global Tech I Offshore Wind GmbH, which leaves Stadtwerke München, ENTEGA and Axpo International S.A. with the remaining 74 per cent of the share capital in Global Tech I.
Global Tech I, which went into operation in 2015, is one of the first offshore wind farms in the German North Sea.
The offshore wind farm comprises 80 AREVA M5000-116 turbines, each with a capacity of 5 MW, located approximately 140 kilometres northwest of Emden in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
With an annual energy production of 1.4 billion kWh, the wind farm covers the average electricity consumption of about 450,000 households.
Back in December 2019, the project team reported that the wind farm achieved the second-highest production value in 2019 on 8 December, with a total of 8,800 MWh of green electricity fed into the grid on that day.
GE Ventures says this transaction allows it to pursue its investment strategy and strengthen its sustainability investment pillar. Beyond the acquisition of Global Tech I, GE Ventures is assessing additional acquisitions in the renewable energy space, the investor said.
Lucid Partners AG, a Swiss-based advisory boutique, is a minority co-investor in the transaction with Global Ventures AG and acted as buy-side financial advisor, arranging the acquisition financing and mandated to manage the participation going forward on behalf of GE Ventures AG I.
Acquisition financing for the transaction was provided by Kommunalkredit Austria AG (Kommunalkredit), a specialist for infrastructure and energy financing, and funds managed by Eiffel Investment Group’s infrastructure team in Paris, a European investor in the energy transition. Squire Patton Boggs acted as the legal advisor for the acquisition financing.