DONG Energy to sell 50% share in London Array 1 wind farm to La Caisse

DONG Energy will sell half of its 50% share in the 630MW offshore wind farm London Array 1 to La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (La Caisse), for £644m.

Following the transaction, La Caisse will enter the existing joint venture with a 25% ownership share alongside DONG Energy (25%), E.ON (30%) and Masdar (20%).

Even after the transaction, DONG Energy will remain provide operation and maintenance services to London Array wind farm.

DONG Energy Wind Power executive vice president Samuel Leupold said with this transaction, La Caisse would become a key partner in the London Array 1 offshore wind farm project.

"Farm down of our ownership shares in wind projects is a central part of our business model and our strategy is to continuously enter into partnership agreements with industrial and financial partners to extract part of the value creation from our projects, share the risk in our portfolio and attract capital to be able to continue to invest in new offshore wind farms," Leupold added.

"We look forward to continuing the collaboration with the partners behind the consortium of London Array, now including La Caisse."

La Caisse infrastructure senior vice president Macky Tall said, "We are investing in this project with a long-term horizon and expect to generate attractive returns for many years ahead."

Both the firms have also agreed a long-term transfer agreement for the electricity generation and green certificates arising from La Caisse’s share of London Array 1 wind farm.

The transaction, which would be completed in the first half of 2014, is subject to a number of customary conditions including transfer of project rights and operational performance of the wind park and approval by relevant authorities.