Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has sold its portfolio of onshore wind farms to Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) for an enterprise value of £50 million.

Comprising 64 turbines in locations across the UK and Ireland the SEP portfolio contains all five of the wind farm investments made by the Environmental Capital Fund (ECF), a specialist infrastructure fund managed by SEP. The portfolio ranges from single-turbine sites across the Orkney and Shetland Islands to utility-scale turbines in Curraghderrig, Ireland and the Port of Tilbury in London.

The acquisition will supplement PiP’s existing wind assets including Aura, one of the largest stand-alone Feed in Tariff wind portfolios in the UK, and Blyth, a minority shareholding in a 550MW 24 site wind portfolio operated and majority owned by EDF.

Sponsors

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Commenting on the transaction, Peter Bachmann, a Director in SEP’s technology infrastructure team said: “We are pleased to conclude this sale to PiP.  Over the last four years, we have added significant value to the portfolio through active management and a hands-on approach.  We believe this is the appropriate time for our fund to exit and we wish PiP success in the future.”

Joe Davis of PiP said: “PiP is delighted to have acquired this portfolio as it further provides our pension scheme investors with long term, inflation-linked cash flows to be used to help meet their pension obligations.”

The wind farm disposal by SEP follows the recent high-profile sale of another of the firm’s energy infrastructure investments, Indigo Pipelines. Indigo, the third largest independent gas transportation network in the UK with approximately 180,000 gas connections, was purchased by independent infrastructure asset manager Arjun Infrastructure Partners in February.

About SEP

SEP invests in UK and European companies across a range of technology sectors, including technology infrastructure. With a track record spanning 20 years, SEP has supported more than 160 companies, providing investment alongside expertise and access to a global network, enabling them to become international leaders. SEP builds supportive long-term relationships with management teams and has been an active shareholder in some of Europe’s most successful technology companies.

Funds managed by SEP include the Environmental Capital Fund (ECF), an infrastructure fund targeted at UK based energy infrastructure projects – including wind, gas, CHP and district heating schemes.   Formed in 2014, ECF is backed by SSE plc, as well as a syndicate of financial investors led by Lexington Partners, the world’s largest independent manager of secondary private equity and co-investment funds, and Hermes GPE.

For further information see: www.sep.co.uk

About PiP

PiP has been developed by pension schemes for pension schemes and offers an alignment of interest that cannot be found in the traditional asset management sector.  PiP launched the PiP Multi-Strategy Infrastructure fund in 2016 and has acquired several UK based renewable energy assets as well as a portfolio of PPP/PFI assets.

PiP’s long-term investment strategy is supported by effective and intensive asset management.  Proximity to the asset is core to PiP’s approach and building strong relationships across all stakeholders ensures that issues are dealt with personally and at source.

For further information see: https://www.pipfunds.co.uk/

Advisers

SEP was advised on the transaction by solicitors, Pinsent Mason.  PiP was advised on the transaction by Eversheds Sutherland (legal), IDCM (debt), Mazars (financial), Everoze (technical), JLT (insurance) and DWPF (modelling).