Babcock & Brown sells Texas wind project

The firm said in a statement the Gulf Wind Project near Corpus Christi in southern Texas is big enough to supply the annual energy needs of approximately 80,000 homes. It has been operational for about a year and is located close to transmission lines for the electricity it will produce.

The electricity will be sold under a long-term power-purchase agreement with a “credit-worthy third party”, Pattern said.

Pattern did not disclose the purchase price for Gulf Wind but it said it secured debt financing from a group of six banks, including Mizuho Corporate Bank, Banco Espirito Santo, Bayerische Landesbank, Commerzbank, HSH Nordbank and ING Capital.

Pattern Energy, formerly the management team of Babcock & Brown’s North American Energy Group, was formed last year when Babcock & Brown, the now-defunct Australian investment bank, sold the group to energy private equity firm Riverstone Holdings.

Pattern Energy focused on development-stage wind assets while at Babcock and the Gulf Wind Project was one of the projects they had helped develop.

Another Babcock-affiliated entity, Babcock & Brown Wind Partners focused on operational-stage wind projects and would buy them up from Babcock's energy group as they exited the development stage. When Babcock & Brown Wind Power separated from Babcock last year and changed its name to Infigen Energy, it bought up most of Babcock's operational wind assets in the US, except Gulf Wind.

A third Babcock wind team – Bluewater Wind – focused on offshore wind development assets. Babcock had acquired the firm in September 2007. It sold Bluewater in November 2009 to New York Stock Exchange-listed NRG Energy.

Since it entered into administration in March 2009, Babcock & Brown has been selling off assets to pay its creditors. The Gulf Wind Project sale was a part of this process. It was sold after a nearly one-year long competitive bidding process conducted by Babcock.