Iberdrola is preparing to bid for the Australian company CWP Renewables. The operation, which is attracting a lot of interest from European electricity companies, could also attract other major Spanish operators to the offer which will be launched in the next two weeks.
The company chaired by Ignacio Galán has hired Herbert Smith’s Freehills to help them in the operation, in which they will probably be in competition with the Canadian fund CDPQ, which has also shown interest in the operation.
CWP Renewables began its journey among the leading promoters of renewable energy with the union of Continental Wind Partners and Wind Prospect Group. In 2018, the company has partnered with global manager Investment Partners Group to form the Grassroots Renewable Energy Trust, with the ambition to create Australia’s largest renewable energy portfolio.
In 2020, CWP Renewables and Grassroots Renewable Energy Trust merged, creating a company integrated as CWP Renewables. Partners Group remains the majority investor and has now initiated the process of exiting the company’s capital.
CWP account in currently with 1,100 MW of assets in operation or at an advanced stage of construction and with an additional 5,000 MW in near-term development and 77 full-time employees.
The company aims to reach an Ebitda of between $150 million and $175 million in 2024, as reported by the Australian Financial Review. The CWP team has held several rounds of meetings with stakeholders, while due diligence and technical reports are being prepared.
Iberdrola and Herbert Smith Freehills were consulted by elEconomista yesterday and neither party would comment. The interest of the electricity company in Australia It is relaunched after David Mesonero returns to the company and would be the first operation the company would launch since his appointment as the company’s Global Head of Corporate Development.
In his previous tenure at the power company, Mesonero led the deal to buy Infigen, which was the power company’s first investment in the country. Iberdrola and Enel also participated at the end of 2021 in the bid for the Australian renewable energy subsidiary of Meridian Energy, New Zealand’s main electricity company. The operation was valued at nearly $1 billion Australians, which would amount to some 640 million euros, but Shell ended up putting the cat in the water.
Herbert Smith Freehills yesterday announced its results for the 2021/2022 financial year, which ended on April 30, with a turnover of 1,305 million euros, an increase of 6% over the previous year. For its part, profit amounted to 451 million euros, up 4%.
It is the ninth consecutive year in which the global company has increased its turnover, which has also achieved a profit rate per partner which amounts to 1.37 million euros, a 6% increase over the prior year, in a year in which the firm achieved the highest number of partner promotions in the firm’s history (a total of 34), as well as new senior lawyers and associates.
Offices in Australia, Hong Kong, New York, Belfast and the Middle East had an exceptional exercise, as well as Paris and Madrid, all with double-digit growth.
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