Octopus Investments sets up USD-6.9bn Aussie renewables platform

Octopus Investments Australia, a unit of the UK’s Octopus Group, has launched an AUD-10-billion (USD 6.9bn/EUR 6.7bn) renewable energy platform and added the 333-MW Darlington Point solar farm in New South Wales to its portfolio.

The new platform will be open to institutional and wholesale investors and will target major investment in the wind, solar and battery storage markets in Australia. It already has a secured portfolio of AUD 3 billion worth of projects, as well as a visible pipeline with a value of roughly AUD 5 billion, Octopus said on Wednesday.

The platform will operate through two fully subscribed funds – Octopus Australia Sustainable Investments (OASIS) Fund, for institutional investors, and the Octopus Renewable Energy Opportunities (OREO) Fund, open to wholesale investors. They will co-invest in "a multi-billion-dollar Australian renewable energy portfolio" and have access to all of Octopus' entire utility-scale and energy storage assets in Australia. The investment vehicles’ first transaction is the joint acquisition of the Darlington Point photovoltaic (PV) complex, which is currently the largest operational solar farm in Australia.

More acquisitions will follow and are due to be announced shortly, Octopus said.

The federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Australian superannuation fund Hostplus are among OASIS’ investors. CEFC’s commitment stands at AUD 75 million.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.690/EUR 0.675)

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