SEP sells onshore wind farm portfolio in £50m deal

Venture capital group Scottish Equity Partners has agreed to sell its portfolio of onshore wind farms in a deal worth £50 million.
Wind turbines in Orkney and the Shetland Islands are part of the 64-turbine deal between SEP and PiP. Picture: Ian RutherfordWind turbines in Orkney and the Shetland Islands are part of the 64-turbine deal between SEP and PiP. Picture: Ian Rutherford
Wind turbines in Orkney and the Shetland Islands are part of the 64-turbine deal between SEP and PiP. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The Glasgow-headquartered group is to dispose of 64 turbines, including several in Scotland, under the eight-figure deal with investment manager Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP).

SEP said the sale comes after adding “significant value” to the wind farms over the last four years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The portfolio includes a number of single-turbine sites across the Orkney and Shetland Islands, in addition to utility-scale turbines in Curraghderrig, Ireland, and the Port of Tilbury in London.

It contains all five of the wind farm investments made by the Environmental Capital Fund, a specialist infrastructure fund managed by SEP with the backing of Perth-based power giant SSE and a financial investor syndicate led by Lexington Partners and Hermes GPE.

The fund is targeted at UK-based energy infrastructure projects, including wind, gas, combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating schemes.

The wind farm disposal follows the recent high-profile sale of another of the SEP’s energy infrastructure investments, Indigo Pipelines, which was established in 1992 by SSE.

Indigo, the third largest independent gas transportation network in the UK with approximately 180,000 gas connections, was purchased by infrastructure asset manager Arjun Infrastructure Partners in February.

Peter Bachmann, a director in SEP’s technology infrastructure team, said: “We are pleased to conclude this sale to PiP.

“Over the last four years, we have added significant value to the portfolio through active management and a hands-on approach.

“We believe this is the appropriate time for our fund to exit and we wish PiP success in the future.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

PiP has purchased several renewable energy assets since launching its Multi-Strategy Infrastructure fund in 2016.

This latest move will supplement the investor’s existing wind projects which include Humber-based Aura, one of the largest stand-alone feed-in tariff wind portfolios in the UK, and Blyth, a minority shareholding in a 550 megawatt 24-site wind portfolio operated and majority owned by EDF.

Joe Davis, investment manager at PiP added: “PiP is delighted to have acquired this portfolio as it further provides our pension scheme investors with long term, inflation-linked cash flows to be used to help meet their pension obligations.”

SEP was advised on the transaction by solicitors Pinsent Masons, while PiP was aided by firms including Eversheds Sutherland and Mazars.