Guy Hands’ Terra Firma completes disposal of all Infinis Energy assets
Terra Firma has agreed to sell the onshore wind assets of renewable energy firm Infinis to JP Morgan, bringing to an end Guy Hands’ ownership of the Infinis group.
Terra Firma, owned and run by Hands, floated Infinis in 2014 but took it private again after then-chancellor George Osborne introduced a series of levies on green energy in the 2015 Budget. Shares in Infinis fell to a record low the day Osborne announced that he would scrap a green tax exemption that had been in place since 2001.
Hands then began selling off the group bit by bit, offloading Infinis’ landfill-to-energy business with a £185m sale to 3i Infrastructure.
Today, Terra Firma announced it would sell Infinis’ onshore wind assets to JP Morgan Asset Management, with the deal expected to close early in the second quarter of this year. The portfolio comprises 343 MW generating capacity across 19 sites and an additional 66MW site that is expected to become operational by the end of February 2017, making it “one of the largest independently owned operating wind portfolios in the UK”, according to Terra Firma.
“I’m delighted that the sale agreement announced today, which follows the sale of the landfill gas assets last December, will enable Terra Firma to realise fully one of our most successful investments,” said Hands.
“Under our ownership, Infinis was transformed from a non-core and largely outsourced unit within a waste management company into one of the UK’s leading independent renewable power generation companies.
“Today there is strong demand in the market for cash yielding, infrastructure assets of scale and Infinis’ onshore wind portfolio is one of the few platforms of scale in the UK that has the operational capability for further growth.”
The investment chief of JP Morgan Asset Management, Matthew LeBlanc, said the acquisition continues the group’s “investment momentum in renewables, complementing the existing investment base, and increases our renewables energy production capacity to over 3,200 MW”.
“We are excited to partner with the management team and our other renewables businesses to continue to grow a truly pan-European renewables independent power producer,” he added.