Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (LON:ORIT) announced on Tuesday that it had acquired the Ljungbyholm Wind Farm from OX2 for a consideration of £59 million, including future construction payments.
After the completion of the acquisition, Octopus Renewables will own 100% of the the construction-ready wind farm project.
The project is located in Kalmar in Southern Sweden, and construction is expected to be completed by the middle of 2021, with the farm expected to be operational later that year. The company said an affiliate of OX2 will carry out the construction under a fixed-price turnkey contract, and that it would be completed without any debt finance at the project level.
The Farm will consist of 12 turbines with an operating life of 30 years and a total capacity of 48 MW.
Further to today’s acquisition, the company said it was looking to target investment in construction, construction-ready and operational renewable energy infrastructure assets in the UK, mainland Europe and Australia. Today’s acquisition represents the first in a pipeline of opportunities outlined by Octopus’s investment arm, and amounts to 17% of the funds raised in the company’s IPO in December 2019.
Octopus Renewables reaction
Responding to the company’s news, company Investment Director Chris Gaydon commented,
“We are pleased to announce our first acquisition on behalf of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust. Scandinavia is an attractive market due to the possibility of combining high levels of wind resource with the latest wind turbine technology, and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to acquire this asset in southern Sweden. Furthermore, acquisition of the Ljungbyholm Wind Farm may lead to further opportunities for collaboration with OX2, one of Scandinavia’s leading renewable energy developers.”
“Since IPO our pipeline has continued to grow and we are actively pursuing a number of opportunities for the Company in our target markets across the UK, wider Europe and Australia. This first investment is in line with the timelines anticipated at IPO and over the coming weeks and months we look forward to updating shareholders on our progress towards deploying the balance of the IPO funds.”
Investor notes
After an excitable start, Octopus Renewables shares are now up 0.96% or 1.00p since the session began on Tuesday, rallying to 105.60p per share 10/03/20 10:53 GMT. The Group has a NAV of 98.00p per share.