Japanese general trading and investment firm Mitsui & Co has agreed to acquire a 27.5% equity stake in Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power for €575 million (US$631 million).
Following a private placement of new common shares, Aker Horizons will own 54.4% of Mainstream, with the remaining 18.1% to be held Mainstream founder Eddie O'Connor and Irish retail investors. The transaction values Mainstream at €2.1 billion.
Mitsui chief operating officer Kazumasa Nakai comments: “We are delighted to participate in Mainstream jointly with Aker Horizons to boost growth and expansion of development and construction/operation activities of Mainstream, by leveraging our global business networks with customers across industries and its wide-ranged industrial capabilities, including deep expertise in the global power sector.
“We are convinced that the participation in Mainstream will further strengthen the strategic partnership between the Aker group and Mitsui, driving forward our renewable energy transition and greenhouse gas reduction in response to global climate change.”
Aker Horizons is an investment company dedicated to renewable energy and decarbonization technologies. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank, acted as financial adviser while Advokatfirmaet served as legal adviser to Mainstream and Aker Horizons in the transaction.
Mainstream is a pure-play renewable energy company with a 14-year track record in developing, building and operating wind and solar power generation assets across global markets, including in Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
It develops gigawatt-scale renewables platforms across onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar power generation, with assets including the Hornsea zone, the world’s largest offshore wind farm in operation today. Mainstream also advanced the construction of its wholly owned 1.4-gigawatt Andes Renovables wind and solar generation platform in Chile, which is on track to be fully operational next year
In mid-March Mainstream and Aker Offshore Wind closed a transaction, originally announced in August 2021, which will see them take an initial 50% stake in Progression Energy’s 800-megawatt floating offshore wind project in Japan.
Aker Offshore Wind focuses on assets in deep waters, and specializes in floating energy systems. The current portfolio consists of development projects and prospects located in Asia, North America and Europe. The company, majority-owned by Aker Horizons, is listed on Euronext Growth in Oslo, Norway. Progression Energy is a floating offshore wind developer with approximately 4GW of project assets across four markets.
Japan aims to expand offshore wind energy capacity to 10GW by 2030 and to 30-45GW by 2040, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Project areas for offshore floating wind will be put to auction for interested companies to submit their proposals.
