Energy group Naturgy, Spain’s largest gas supplier, announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with French investment fund Ardian to acquire a large Spanish renewable energy portfolio for 536 million euros.
The transaction, which is expected to be completed by July 2023, involves all the assets held by Ardian’s subsidiary ASR Wind, the Spanish giant said in a statement sent to the Spanish stock exchange regulator (CNMV). This portfolio includes 12 wind farms with a total capacity of 422 megawatts (MW) already in operation, as well as solar farm projects in an “advanced state”, with a capacity of 435 megawatts, the statement said.
According to Naturgy, the contract offers the possibility of replacing older generators in wind farms with newer, more powerful machines at the end of their life, which is expected to be 16 years on average. Naturgy, which jointly manages with the Algerian group Sonatrach the Medgaz pipeline, linking Spain to Algerian gas fields, has been multiplying investments in the solar and wind sectors for several years.
The Spanish group, which last year posted a net profit of 1.65 billion euros, currently has a renewable energy production capacity of 2,300 MW, with 88 parks in operation. The Ardian fund, created in 1996, currently manages $150 billion in assets in Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East, on behalf of public bodies, pension funds and private investors.
