Orix Corp. agreed to buy Spain’s Elawan Energy, the Japanese financial conglomerate’s first deal to acquire a majority stake in an overseas renewable power company.
Tokyo-based Orix is purchasing an 80% stake from Elawan’s management and Spanish industrial company Acek, company spokeswoman Yuka Kanaoka said Monday. With an additional capital injection later, the deal is worth about 100 billion yen ($965 million), she said.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions, Orix said in a statement.
The acquisition will expand Orix’s global renewable energy operations as it broadens a business portfolio that ranges from leasing to banking and real estate. Acek, which also owns car parts maker Gestamp Automocion SA, has been selling stakes in renewable assets.
Elawan, set up in 2007, develops and operates wind and solar power projects in Europe and the Americas. It has 714 megawatts of operational projects, more than 460 megawatts under construction and a development pipeline of over 10 gigawatts.
“Elawan is an ideal platform to further support the growth of Orix renewable energy business globally,” Hidetake Takahashi, head of energy and eco-services business headquarters at Orix, said in the statement.
Orix has been ramping up investment in renewable energy at home and abroad in recent years. In September, Orix agreed to buy a roughly 20% stake in Indian renewable energy developer Greenko Energy Holdings for $980 million, the conglomerate’s biggest investment in the sector overseas.
Source: Bloomberg.com