Norway Wealth Fund Enters Spanish Renewables With Iberdrola Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Norway’s wealth fund entered Spain’s renewable energy market by snapping up a 49% interest in a package of assets from Iberdrola SA.
The €600 million ($650 million) purchase follows a boom year for solar generation in Spain, whose abundant sunshine drives a thriving clean-energy industry. The deal reflects a gradual shift by Norway’s wealth fund, built from North Sea oil and gas riches, to expand in renewables, and a move by Iberdrola to focus more on energy networks abroad.
The transaction gives Norges Bank Investment Management a stake in 1.27 gigawatts of solar and onshore wind farms, valuing the portfolio at €1.2 billion, NBIM said Tuesday. No external debt was involved in the deal. Bilbao-based Iberdrola will remain co-owner and operate the plants.
The Spanish utility said last year it planned to divest €4.9 billion of assets through 2025 and raise €2.6 billion more by selling stakes in projects. That’s part of a push to form joint ventures with financial investors in a number of large businesses, raising funds to cut debt and reduce the cost of capital.
Iberdrola sold a 49% stake in a German wind farm to Energy Infrastructure Partners AG for about €700 million in September and is looking to sell an interest in its Brazilian transmission lines.
Oslo-based NBIM recently said it intended to make more investments in renewable-energy storage and transmission, after turbulent markets and soaring inflation led to losses across its portfolio over much of last year. It spent about €1.4 billion on a 50% stake in a Dutch offshore wind farm in 2021.
Wind, Solar
The Spanish portfolio includes five onshore wind sites and seven solar-plant projects, with solar accounting for 80% of the total. Nine projects are currently under development and are expected to be completed between 2023 and 2025.
The deal is part of a “global agreement,” David Mesonero, Iberdrola’s head of corporate development and M&A, said in a post on LinkedIn. It includes the construction of renewable assets in Spain, but “with the idea of expanding it to more countries in the short term.”
Barclays Plc advised Iberdrola on the transaction.
--With assistance from and .
(Updates with Iberdrola comment in eighth paragraph, adviser in ninth.)
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