Resonance reaches $100m close, buys four wind farms

Resonance Asset Management, a London-based asset manager focused on energy assets, has added four operating wind farms to its portfolio.

The acquisition was made by the Resonance British Wind Energy Income Fund, an ungeared vehicle taking part in the consolidation of the SME wind farm market in the UK. It brings the overall capacity of the fund’s portfolio to 23.9 megawatts (MW).

Resonance has now raised $100 million in commitments from institutional investors for the fund, which was launched 10 month ago. Its investor base comprises corporate and local government pension funds, insurance funds and family offices, with a focus on Nordic countries.

With five acquisitions now completed, the vehicle is now 86 percent invested.

The fund’s first acquisition was Bettyhill Wind Farm, a northern Scottish plant with a capacity of 6MW. Resonance followed this with the acquisition of an 11MW portfolio originally developed by private equity firm HgCapital and turbine supplier Wind Direct, comprising five turbines across three industrial sites.

Revenues from the fund’s assets are linked to the price of wholesale electricity in the UK as well as subsidies from the Renewable Obligation regime, the framework developed by the UK to help meet its clean energy needs. All generated income is paid out to investors.

Resonance Asset Management was founded in 2012 by Nick Wood, the founder and former chief executive of Man Group’s Environmental Capital Opportunities (Man ECO) unit, the $52 billion asset manager’s private equity firm specialised in environmental investing.