InfraRed confirms financial close on the Merkur offshore wind farm project

InfraRed’s Infrastructure Fund III has confirmed financial close on the Merkur Offshore wind farm project (“Merkur”) and has committed to invest c. €125m for a 25% stake, alongside a consortium of investors which includes global private markets investment manager Partners Group (on behalf of its clients);contractor related entities DEME Concessions Wind, member of the DEME Group, and General Electric Energy Financial Services, a GE (NYSE: GE) unit; and L’Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (ADEME), acting in the name and on behalf of the French State. In total, Merkur has raised EUR 1.6 billion of capital investment.

Merkur is a construction-ready, 400MW offshore wind project in the German exclusive economic zone, located approximately 50km off the North Sea coast. The project benefits from a regime that is specifically designed to offer a high level of revenue predictability with a fixed, high tariff for approximately 10 years. The wind farm will consist of 66 turbines and once complete will generate c.1,750 GWh annually, enough to power around 500,000 homes.

Stephane Kofman, Director, Infrastructure at InfraRed Capital Partners, commented:

“InfraRed is pleased to be working with strong partners and is looking forward to the successful development and construction of this flagship renewable energy project.

“Offshore wind is a sector particularly aligned to experienced infrastructure investors such as InfraRed as it enables the application of complex structuring skills to deliver a large scale European renewable energy project that will positively contribute to a sustainable future energy source and reduce reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power. InfraRed is pursuing similar opportunities in Europe but will also continue systematic origination activities in core target geographies including North America and Australasia”.

InfraRed is an experienced investor in infrastructure and has developed over 70 projects with an aggregate capital expenditure of US$25bn.