Frankfurt-listed wind energy developer PNE Group may be gearing up for competing bids after an initial take-private offer from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) was nixed by at least one major shareholder as too low.
On August 26, PNE confirmed that it was in exploratory talks to sell itself to MSIP, having received an indicative non-binding offer for all outstanding PNE shares at EUR 3.50 to 3.80 per share. The deal would value PNE at EUR 265 million ($293 million), marking the first investment of MSIP’s North Haven Infrastructure Partners III fund.
One major PNE shareholder, ENKRAFT Capital, has already called Morgan Stanley’s offer “absolutely inadequate,” citing the firm’s own guidance for the current fiscal year and longer-term growth drivers.
Reuters has reported that additional potential buyers, identified by two sources as Macquarie and Sweden’s EQT, have expressed interest in the company and that PNE has agreed to give potential buyers access to its company records.
Last month, Macquarie announced the acquisition of another major German wind project, Ocean Breeze Energy, which operates the 400 MW Bard Office 1 North Sea wind farm, Germany’s first commercial offshore wind firm and its most productive offshore power plant. The German farm was previously owned by Italy’s UniCredit SpA. Last month it announced the $1.8 billion takeover of Britain’s 714MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, set to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm after it comes online in 2020. Macquarie has already been involved in financing almost half of the offshore wind power capacity in Britain, which in turn generates nearly 40% of all offshore wind energy generated worldwide.
Meanwhile, EQT, Europe’s second-largest private equity fund with approximately $44 billion in assets under management, is preparing to list its shares on the Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm. Earlier today, the firm closed the order book on the IPO, which has been valued at $1.32 billion, making it one of the year’s largest Nordic listings. CEO Christian Sinding previously told reporters on a call that the IPO was intended to fund EQT’s expansion as a global private equity player.
According to Windpower Monthly, PNE’s shortlisted, interested buyers are likely angling for the company’s coveted 5GW project pipeline of global onshore wind projects.
Since 2017, the company has been in the midst of an ambitious scale-up strategy to expand into new technologies and emerging markets, aiming to soften the volatile earnings impact of pipeline development projects, and boost earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by 30-50% by 2023. In February, PNE opened an office in Panama and announced the acquisition of five projects in various stages of development from the Latin American subsidiary of France’s InnoVent. The investments were intended to serve as PNE’s gateway to Latin America, where CEO Markus Lesser said in a company statement that the firm sees “great potential” for market expansion in wind and photovoltaic energy.
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