John Laing completes divestment of Irish wind farm

This sale value represents a 6% premium to John Laing’s book value for the asset at 31 December 2020, and is equivalent to a money multiple on its investment of 1.3 times.  

Located in County Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland, Glencarbry wind farm has a total capacity of 35.6MW.  Glencarbry was acquired by John Laing in 2015 and brought into operation in 2017, and has an operational track record of over three and a half years.

This divestment is in line with the Group’s strategy to reduce its exposure to Renewable Energy generation assets.  Glencarbry is a mature operational project within the Group’s secondary portfolio, and this sale is also consistent with the Group’s strategy to realise these types of secondary assets and re-invest the proceeds in new opportunities in greenfield projects and in economic infrastructure businesses and platforms.

At 31 December 2019, the total value of John Laing’s Renewable Energy portfolio was £607 million.  Following the divestments of ten Renewable Energy assets during 2020, including the sale of the entire Australia wind farm portfolio, as well as the recent sales of the Rammeldalsberget and Glencarbry wind farms, the total value of the Group’s Renewable Energy portfolio has reduced to £234 million[1], with the Group’s PPP & Projects business line now representing around 80% of total portfolio value. 

Shareholders participate in the success of realisations through the special dividend, with the Group paying out approximately 5-10% of gross proceeds received from the sale of investments on an annual basis.  This divestment further adds to the visibility of the 2021 special dividend, with total proceeds eligible to be included in the 2021 special dividend calculation now amounting to approximately £460 million[2], consisting of expected proceeds from this sale as well as the sales of interests in New Royal Adelaide Hospital, Rammeldalsberget wind farm, the Australian wind farm portfolio, and the second stage of the IEP East divestment expected to complete later in the year.

Ben Loomes, Chief Executive of John Laing, said: “Following on from the completion of the sales of our wind farm assets in Australia and Sweden earlier this month, the sale of Glencarbry represents a further important step in our strategy to realise fully our Renewable Energy generation assets over the next two years. Importantly, recent Renewable Energy divestments, including Glencarbry, Rammeldalsberget and the Australian portfolio, have all been at values representing premia to book value, further underpinning our portfolio valuation as well as crystallising value for our shareholders.”

^{[1] Based on pro forma valuation as at 31 December 2020.
[2] Expected proceeds reflect latest foreign currency rates and are adjusted to exclude any cash distributions received from projects prior to completion and any interest earned on the gross proceeds.}