One of Japan’s largest trading and investment houses, Mitsui, has made a strategic investment of EUR 575 million (about $631 million) in Irish-headquartered global renewable energy developer Mainstream Renewable Power, the company announced on Thursday. Mainstream will issue new common shares in connection with the deal, giving Mitsui a 27.5 percent ownership interest, alongside Mainstream’s other strategic backer, Norway’s Aker Horizons, which acquired a 75 percent stake in Mainstream in May 2021, and will retain a 54.5 percent holding post-transaction.
The deal, which values Mainstream at EUR 2.1 billion (about $2.3 billion), aims to accelerate Mainstream’s transformation into a renewable energy major, leveraging Mitsui’s complementary portfolio, with significant assets in operation or under development in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Mitsui will also utilize its cross-industry network and wide-ranging industrial capabilities, including global independent power producer (IPP) competence from 22 countries.
Mitsui is one of the leading Japanese sōgō shōsha, or general trading and investment firms, with some 45,000 employees in 63 countries. Its activities span across mineral and metal resources, iron and steel, infrastructure, chemicals and energy.
The transaction has several defined objectives for Mainstream, including acceleration of its expansion into high-growth geographies, broadening its routes to market (particularly in the Corporate Power Purchase Agreement, or PPA, sector), growing its construction and operations capacity across multi-gigawatt platforms, adding new energy solutions capabilities such as battery storage and power trading, and bolstering its market leading position in green ammonia and green hydrogen production, thus advancing its Power-to-X offering.
“There has never been a more critical time in the history of our planet to accelerate the global transition to renewable energy,” Mainstream Group CEO Mary Quaney said in a comment on the deal. “Today’s transformational announcement reinforces Mainstream’s leadership position in the global race to net zero as well as enabling nations to rapidly reduce their dependence on oil and gas imports through the large-scale deployment of renewables. We are delighted to welcome Mitsui as our new strategic partner alongside Aker Horizons. Together, we are fully focused on expediting our ambitious growth plans and leveraging our collective expertise and resources to transform Mainstream into a global renewable energy major this decade.”
“Mitsui is the perfect partner for Mainstream to accelerate the company’s growth to become a renewable energy major,” said Kristian Røkke, Chief Executive of Aker Horizons and Chairman of Mainstream. “I have known Mitsui for many years and am certain that their rich industrial heritage, global presence and like-minded approach to sustainability will bring substantial value to Mainstream. We see Mainstream as an integral part of Aker Horizons’ plans to develop mega-scale green industrial hubs, drawing on synergies between Mitsui, the Aker Horizons portfolio and other strategic partners.”
“We are delighted to participate in Mainstream jointly with Aker Horizons to boost growth and expansion of development and construction and 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,” Mitsui Chief Operating Officer Kazumasa Nakai said. “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.”
Mainstream is a pure-play renewable energy company with a 14-year track record in developing, building and operating wind and solar generation assets across global markets, including in Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Today, it is one of the most successful developers of gigawatt-scale renewables platforms across onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar power generation, having successfully delivered 6.5 GW of assets to financial close-ready including the Hornsea zone, the world’s largest offshore wind farm in operation today.
Mitsui, Aker Horizons and Mainstream intend to continue developing Mainstream towards an initial public offering, although the transaction secures flexibility regarding to the timing of future funding of Mainstream.
