Union Investment Buys Wind Farms in France and Ireland

HAMBURG, GERMANY-Union Investment has acquired two additional wind farms for its UniInstitutional Infrastruktur SICAV-SIF infrastructure fund. Located in Greneville en Beauce, France, and Gibbet Hill (County Wexford) in Ireland, the onshore wind farms have been in operation since July.

The vendor of the wind farm in Greneville, comprising eight turbines with total output of 24 megawatts, is VSB Energies Nouvelles, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dresden-based WSB Group. Union Investment acquired the Gibbet Hill wind farm, which consists of six turbines and has a rated output of 15 megawatts, from project developer ABO Wind of Wiesbaden. The turbines are from leading manufacturers Vestas and Nordex. Ten months after inception, Union Investment's first infrastructure fund now holds four European wind farms in three different countries representing a signed investment commitment of approximately $197 million (EUR 143M).

“We are pleased that the fund has achieved the planned broad diversification across different turbine manufacturers and also different feed-in systems within such a short space of time,” said Christoph Schumacher, a member of the management team at Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH, which acts as investment adviser to the fund.

In addition to onshore wind farms in Europe, the institutional infrastructure fund will also invest selectively in photovoltaic plants. “We want to expand the portfolio in Germany, the UK and France in particular. The first solar park will probably be transferred to holdings sometime this year,” said Schumacher. The fund should reach its target size of EUR 300 million ($413 million) of capital within three years. Taking account of the usual debt finance element, an additional sum of more than $1.1 billion (approximately EUR 800M) will then be available for new investments.