Augusta & Co is pleased to announce the sale of three under-construction onshore wind farms in France with a total installed capacity of 119.5MW to Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (“Innergex”) and Desjardins Group Pension Plan (“Desjardins”). Innergex and Desjardins have reached transaction close on an agreement with Velocita Energy Developments (France) Limited (“Velocita”) (an affiliate of Riverstone Holdings LLC (“Riverstone”)) to acquire the portfolio.
The three projects are located in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France, and consist of 43 GE 2.78MW turbines.
Velocita is an onshore wind energy company formed in 2011 by Riverstone, an energy and power focused private investment firm with approximately US$36 billion of capital raised.
Innergex owns and operates run-of-river hydroelectric facilities, wind farms and solar photovoltaic farms in Canada, France and the USA with an aggregate installed capacity of approximately 1GW. Innergex will acquire a 69.55% interest in the projects, with the balance taken by Desjardins, one of the ten largest private pension plans in Canada.
Robin Duggan, Managing Director of Riverstone, commented
“In light of the evolution of the wind market and investor appetite in France we are pleased to have found a partner in Innergex and reached close ahead of project commissioning in a tight timeline. This transaction was one of several linked sales and Augusta played an essential role bringing this transaction to successful close and ensuring Riverstone was able to capture the substantial value Velocita created in developing and constructing these wind farms.”
Mortimer Menzel, Partner at Augusta, said
“This is the third in a series of transactions for Riverstone that we have closed and the pricing and terms reflect the hard work Velocita and Riverstone have put into developing these wind farms. We were able to hold value throughout the process and deliver it at the upper end of where the market is currently pricing. This is one of the largest under construction portfolios in France right now and we are proud to have been a part of this highly successful transaction.”
Augusta & Co acted as exclusive financial adviser to Riverstone in the transaction.