Aker Horizons has finalised and closed the transaction to acquire Irish developer Mainstream Renewable Power.
Existing Mainstream shareholders have re-invested and retain 25% ownership in the company.
The transaction values the current equity of Mainstream at €900m on a 100% basis and gives Aker Horizons a portfolio of solar and wind projects in operation and under construction of about 1.4GW and a project development pipeline of about 12.5GW.
The pipeline has increased by more than 1GW since the acquisition was announced on 19 January 2021.
Aker Horizons CEO Kristian Rokke said: “Aker Horizons has a clear ambition to develop Mainstream into a renewable energy major.
“We will focus on scale in selected markets globally, generating high quality energy from our multi-technology platform and being a hybridisation frontrunner, accelerating the power-to-x market as well as pioneering smart energy solutions by leveraging on partnerships with other Aker Horizons and Aker companies.”
Aker Horizons’ ambition is to develop companies with a total renewable energy capacity of 10GW by 2025.
Mainstream CEO Mary Quaney said: “We are delighted to have completed this transaction, and to become part of the Aker family.
Mainstream’s vision is of a world electrified by renewable energy, and this deal gives us the resources to scale up our ability to deliver that.
“We envisage growing our business across all of our platforms, while working with Aker Horizons to develop new routes to new customers in new markets.”
Mainstream plans to bring 5.5GW of renewable assets to financial close globally by 2023, setting the company on track to becoming a pure-play renewable energy major.
Work has commenced to prepare the company for a potential initial public offering within the next three years.
As part of the transaction, Aker Horizons acquired an interest in SuperNode, a technology company which designs and develops superconductor cables to address the future need for higher capacity cables with lower power loss.
SuperNode was founded by Mainstream chairman Eddie O’Connor (pictured) in 2018.
At closing, Aker Horizons and O’Connor will hold 45.6% of the shares each in SuperNode, with employees owning the remainder of shares.