Talanx finances offshore wind farm

Acting as lead manager for a double-digit group of institutional investors ranging from six countries across Europe, Talanx has coordinated EUR 832 million of senior bond financing to the Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm. The debt enabled Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) to acquire a 50 percent share in the wind farm owned by Danish energy supplier Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) with a transaction value amounting to EUR 1,170 million. The bond has a term of approximately ten years. After successfully financing the Gode Wind 1 offshore wind farm in 2015, this is the second successful large-scale transaction under the guidance and leadership of Talanx. In addition to German insurance companies and asset managers, further institutional partners include banks and European institutional investors, amongst them: DekaBank, Edmond de Rothschild AM’s BRIDGE platform, La Banque Postale Asset Management, NN Investment Partners and Wiener Städtische Versicherung.

“With the financing of Borkum Riffgrund 2, we continue to consistently pursue our strategy of increasing the share of infrastructure investments in our portfolio. In doing so, we aim to counter the decline in yields resulting from the persisting low interest rate environment”, said Dr. Immo Querner, Chief Financial Officer of Talanx AG. “We expect new investments in infrastructure transactions to amount to EUR 300 million in equity and debt in 2018. Overall, we consider EUR five billion of investments in infrastructure achievable.”

Dr. Thomas Mann, spokesman for the Management Board of Ampega Investment GmbH, commented: “We are delighted that we, once again as lead manager for a group of institutional investors, were able to attract many of the same lenders to Gode Wind 1 as well as new ones at home and abroad to join the consortium. Thereby, the higher debt volume compared to Gode Wind 1 could still be raised confidently.”

Borkum Riffgrund 2 comprises the construction of 56 wind turbines with a combined output of 450 megawatts. With this capacity, it is envisaged to be able to provide power for around 460,000 homes. The turbines will be installed approximately 30 km north of Borkum, with technical completion planned for 2019. This offshore wind farm is one of the last major projects with an attractive feed-in tariff. Moving forward under the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG), subsidies provided to a transaction need to be bid in a competitive auction by prospective developers. It is expected that the senior bond for Borkum Riffgrund 2 will be certified externally as a “green bond”.