Allianz Capital hits €3bn in renewable investments

Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) has hit the €3 billion mark for renewable investments by buying three Finnish wind farms.

ACP, the investment arm of insurance group Allianz, added 107.7MW to its portfolio by buying the Joukhaisselka and Kuolavaara-Keulakkopaa farms, located in Lapland, and the Saarenkyla project, near Ostrobothnia. The seller was Portofina New Energy, a company owned by Impax Asset Management. ACP entered the market in January, when it bought the 21MW Jouttikallio wind farm.

The deal will close when all three wind farms are constructed and operational.

Along with the €3 billion milestone, ACP’s renewable portfolio now includes 63 wind and seven solar farms in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the US.

In January, after ACP acquired the Jouttikallio project, head of renewables David Jones said the asset manager saw potential in the Finnish renewable market, even though the government plans to end wind power subsidies by 2017. Finland’s ministry of employment and economy said at the time the current scheme could no longer be considered “sufficiently cost-effective and market-oriented.” The proposed legislation would force wind developers to apply for a quota of the 2.5GW cap over the next two years.

For Impax, the deal follows its strategy of realising assets once they are operational. The London-based firm, which was founded in 1998 and now manages £3.2 billion ($4.6 billion; €4 billion) for investors around the world, used its €330 million New Energy Investor Fund II to purchase the assets. It purchased the Kuolavaara-Keulakkopää and the Joukhaisselkä from Finnish energy firm Fortum and state-owned land manager Metsähallitus in September 2013.