Sembcorp to buy 658-MW wind and solar portfolio in China

Singapore-based utilities group Sembcorp Industries Ltd (SGX:U96) will buy a 658-MW portfolio of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities in China from private equity infrastructure fund CGN Capital Partners Infrastructure Fund III and its affiliates.

Through its subsidiary Sembcorp Energy (Shanghai) Holding Co Ltd, the company has agreed to acquire 98% of the portfolio for CNY 3.3 billion (USD 516m/EUR 450m), net of external debt financing. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

The portfolio includes 240 MW of solar parks in Shandong province, some of them partially owned, which were commissioned in 2016 and 2017, and 417.5 MW of fully-owned wind capacity in Hebei and Henan provinces, completed in 2019 and 2020. The assets are contracted and are eligible for fixed feed-in tariffs under the China renewable energy policy, Sembcorp said on Friday.

The company expects the portfolio to serve as a scalable renewable platform for further growth in China.

“China is the world’s largest renewables market, and a priority growth market for Sembcorp,” Alex Tan, chief executive China at Sembcorp Industries, said, adding that the acquisition will boost the company’s renewables portfolio in China to 1,400 MW of gross capacity wind and solar assets.

Sembcorp Industries head Wong Kim Yin said the acquisition supports the company’s target of 10 GW of gross installed renewables capacity by 2025 and its brown-to-green transformation.

Sembcorp will pay for the deal through a mix of internal cash and external debt.

(CNY 1 = USD 0.156/EUR 0.136)

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