European Commission Clears Sale of GIB Offshore Wind Portfolio

The European Commission has approved the sale of the UK Green Investment Bank’s (GIB) offshore wind farm portfolio to Macquarie Group Limited of Australia and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USSL) of the UK.   

The acquisition of the portfolio comprising nine wind farms off England and Wales was cleared under the EU Merger Regulation.

The European Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns as there are very minor overlaps between the companies’ activities. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

GIB has invested GBP 1.6 billion in the UK’s offshore wind sector, backing the nine projects with a total capacity of around 3.2GW.

The GIB’s offshore wind portfolio includes stakes in the 90MW Rhyl Flats OWF, the 210MW Westermost Rough, the 270MW Lincs, the 300MW Galloper, the 317MW Sheringham Shoal, the 367MW Walney, the 400MW Rampion, the 576MW Gwynt y Mor, and the 630MW London Array.

In addition to its own investments in the UK’s offshore wind market, GIB established a fund, the UK Green Investment Bank Offshore Wind Fund and managed co-investment entities, through its wholly owned subsidiary UK Green Investment Bank Financial Services Limited (GIBFS), to invest in operating offshore wind farms in the UK. The fund is the first in the world to be dedicated solely to investments in offshore wind power generation and is the largest renewable energy fund in Europe. The fund’s portfolio now consists of six assets with a total capacity of 1.45GW.

Back in April, Macquarie and USSL agreed to acquire GIB for GBP 2.3 billion.