Orsted has completed a farm-down of a stake in its 389MW West of Duddon Sands Offshore Wind Farm to funds managed by Schroders Greencoat.
The 24.5% stake acquired by funds managed by Schroders Greencoat is valued at £456m on a debt-free basis.
Orsted will retain a 25.5%, pro-rata consolidated interest in West of Duddon Sands and will remain the operator under the existing operations and maintenance agreement.
Located approximately 14 km off the UK west coast, West of Duddon Sands has been operating since 2014.
Schroders Greencoat is a leader in renewable infrastructure asset investments with a combined net generating capacity of over 7GW and £9.6bn of assets under management.
This transaction builds on a strong collaboration between Orsted and Schroders Greencoat who is also an existing partner on four Orsted offshore wind farms Walney, Burbo Bank Extension, Hornsea 1, and Borkum Riffgrund 1.
With this transaction, Orsted continues to deliver on its partnership and divestment programme as part of securing a robust capital structure, diversifying risk and recycling capital.
Based on a self-funded business plan, Orsted is executing a more than 8GW offshore wind construction programme, which will almost double the company’s installed offshore wind capacity.
Trond Westlie, Group CFO of Orsted, said: “Farm-downs and partnerships are an integral part of Ørsted’s business model, and we’re pleased to expand our partnership with Schroders Greencoat, who has a proven track record in managing renewable energy infrastructure assets and is a highly valued partner to Ørsted.
“With today’s announcement we continue to deliver on our farm-down programme with a transaction that meets our strategic objectives for partnerships and divestments in terms of value creation, risk diversification, and capital recycling.”
In the UK Orsted operates more than 5GW of offshore wind capacity and has an additional 5GW under construction or in development, including the Hornsea 3 and Hornsea 4 projects, both of which have secured CfDs.