Ørsted has completed the divestment of a 50 per cent stake in the 2.9 GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm to Apollo-managed funds, the company said on 30 December, following the announcement of the sale in November and the closing of the transaction.
Last month, the companies announced that they had entered into an agreement under which Apollo would acquire a 50 per cent equity ownership stake in the UK offshore wind farm and commit to funding 50 per cent of the payments under the EPC contract for Hornsea 3 and the offshore transmission asset.
The total value of the transaction is approximately DKK 39 billion (around EUR 5.2 billion), and the total project investment remains in the range of DKK 70-75 billion (approximately EUR 9.4-10 billion), according to information shared in November.
Under the agreement, Apollo is paying DKK 20 billion (approx. EUR 2.7 billion) of the total transaction value upon closing of the transaction, half of which is related to a share purchase agreement (SPA) price, covering both the generation and transmission assets, with the remainder being an initial payment under the construction agreement. The remaining amount is expected to be paid under the construction agreement upon achievement of certain construction milestones.
Ørsted took the Final Investment Decision (FID) on Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in 2023, after the company was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) for the 2.9 GW project in July 2022.
Located 160 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea 3 will feature around 200 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines and is expected to be operational in 2027.