Encavis has sold a 49% stake of its wind farm portfolio in Austria to Wien Energie for an undisclosed price.
The portfolio totals 36.2MW and comprises three wind farms – Pongratzer Kogel and Herrenstein in Styria and Zagersdorf in Burgenland.
Encavis chief executive Dierk Paskert said: “The renewed sale of minority interests in a wind farm portfolio remains our guiding principle for strengthening our internal financing power as well as further diversifying our portfolio.”
The company said the strategic decision to sell minority stakes of up to 49% in selected wind farms to institutional investors or utilities frees up existing cash reserves for investment in further projects, confirms the accounting values of the assets in the existing portfolio and results in book profits in the national financial statements.
Encavis chief financial officer Christoph Husmann said: “We are pleased that with this transaction, which was concluded in the face of competition from a very large number of different bidders, we can once again provide evidence of the value of our existing portfolio.
“Our selective acquisitions and the technical and commercial optimisation of our parks create significant value – as this example repeatedly demonstrates.
“This proof of value, which is already included in our forecast key figures for this year, once again confirms the achievement of our guidance 2020.”
Wien Energie management board chairman Michael Streibl said: “The extension of our wind power portfolio is an important cornerstone to achieve our climate goals besides the expansion of the photovoltaic.
“We are now enabled to produce additional 37 gigawatt hours of renewable energy to serve corresponding 14,800 households CO2-free in Vienna with this participation.”