Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas is widening its presence in the renewable energy value chain by purchasing a quarter of developer and fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

The OEM said it will acquire the ownership stake in its fellow Danish company for €500m ($612.8m), in the form of €180m as upfront payment, and €320m as an earnout.

“The global transition towards a decarbonised energy system demands increased deployment of renewable energy, and more extensive supportive infrastructure,” Vestas chief executive Henrik Andersen said.

“As a leader in sustainable energy solutions, Vestas is determined to play a role in driving this transformation, but to do so, we must increase our involvement across the renewable value chain and benefit from value creation across technology providers, developers, and owners.

“Our investment in Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners enable us to achieve both goals, and to maximise the market potential signalled by our new development business unit.”

Beyond the turbine

Vestas currently already co-develops and invests in early-stage renewable projects, but through its stake in CIP will venture much deeper into areas beyond turbine manufacturing, such as investment management and optimisation, including asset management and divestments.

CIP’s business model focusses primarily on raising long-term institutional capital and nurturing and de-risking large-scale complex energy infrastructure projects, from project origination, investment selection, through to construction and asset management.

The two companies will cooperate on certain projects in the early phases of development, but Vestas said it won’t grant CIP a preferential consideration as a customer in regards to Vestas’ development pipeline and/or turbine sales.

CIP managing partner Jakob Baruël Poulsen said Vestas will be part of his company’s board. But the OEM assured it won’t be involved in CIP’s decision making at fund, investment, or project level – including the selection of wind turbine suppliers.

“CIP and Vestas have a shared vision for the renewable energy market providing common ground for the strategic direction of CIP, which will continue to create innovative and attractive investment products for investors with a significant contribution to the global climate agenda.”

CIP currently has about €14bn under management, and targets to boost that figure to €75-100bn by 2030.

Wind

'Across the value chain': wind giant Vestas moves deeper into renewables with 25% CIP stake