INCJ to buy UK wind power firm for $850m

Japanese general trading company Marubeni Corp is also participating in the deal, and will acquire the other 50% of share capital, according to the Nikkei newspaper.

The transaction represents an exit for US private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, which acquired Seajacks for $207 million in December 2009. The renewable energy-focused investor's strategy was to grow the company into a major offshore wind service business, starting with the expansion of its fleet of vessels.

Riverstone was reported to be considering selling Seajacks last October, in a move expected to generate an attractive money multiple on the firm's initial investment. At the time the company was thought to be worth around $700 million, and Riverstone was also mulling the option of refinancing Seajacks.

Based in Great Yarmouth, England, Seajacks services mainly European offshore wind farms but it is also able to service offshore oil and gas markets. It owns and manages self-propelled vessels that are purpose-built to install offshore wind turbines.

The Seajacks transaction appears to be in line with INCJ's plan, outlined in January, to invest more in overseas acquisitions by Japanese companies this year. The public-private investment fund claimed that it has been receiving a large number of requests for it to participate in deals abroad, and it expects this trend to continue over the coming 12 months.

A stronger yen is another factor which appears to be driving investors abroad.

INCJ has signed off more than 220 deals totaling in excess of $4.6 billion since it was launched in 2007. In May 2010, the fund acquired United Utilities Australia, alongside Japanese trading company Mitsubishi Corp. Six months later, it backed Marubeni Corp in the buyout of Aguas Nuevas, Chile's third-largest water business, reportedly worth $498 million. Last year, it paid $680 million for a 40% stake in Swiss electronic-metering company Landis+Gyr in a joint acquisition with Toshiba.

INCJ is growing its team to prepare for the extra workload, adding M&A lawyers and bankers to its current staff of 80.

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• Topics
• Europe
• Cleantech
• Buyouts
• Secondaries
• buyout
• Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ)
• Cleantech