Ardian: New onshore wind power market leader with EWE and Aloys Wobben Foundation

Paris/Frankfurt/Aurich/Oldenburg — Olden­­burg-based energy service provi­der EWE and the Aloys Wobben Foun­da­tion, sole share­hol­der of Aurich-based wind turbine manu­fac­tu­rer ENERCON, today signed a share­hol­der and invest­ment agree­ment to estab­lish a joint venture for onshore wind energy. Ardian, one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment compa­nies, has held a 26 percent stake in EWE since Febru­ary 2020 and is support­ing the estab­lish­ment of the new company.

The agree­ment stipu­la­tes that each side will hold 50 percent of the shares and will contri­bute ENERCON’s and EWE’s exis­ting parks and onshore projects to the future joint venture. EWE is respon­si­ble for the entre­pre­neu­rial manage­ment of the joint venture, while the Aloys Wobben Foun­da­tion chairs the Super­vi­sory Board. The closing of the tran­sac­tion, expec­ted for spring 2021, is still subject to anti­trust review.

EWE and Aloys Wobben Foun­da­tion sign agree­ment to estab­lish a joint venture with plan­ned invest­ment volume of €3.6 billion until 2030.

The new company will have more than 2,300 mega­watts of instal­led capa­city in its port­fo­lio and a project pipe­line of more than 9,400 mega­watts, making it the market leader in onshore wind in Germany and one of the largest wind energy compa­nies in Europe. The goal is to add more than 200 mega­watts per year and increase the port­fo­lio to up to 5 giga­watts by 2030. In addi­tion, further inter­na­tio­nal growth is plan­ned. In this way, one of the largest produ­cers of green elec­tri­city in Germany and France is to be crea­ted in the coming years. The company, which also includes the Düssel­­dorf-based direct marketer Quadra Energy, takes a manu­­fac­­tu­­rer-inde­­pen­­dent approach to reali­zing its projects.

Dr. Daniel Graf von der Schu­len­burg, Mana­ging Direc­tor and Head of Ardian Infra­struc­ture Germany and Nort­hern Europe, said: “This tran­sac­tion shows how we as share­hol­ders support the further deve­lo­p­ment and trans­for­ma­tion of the compa­nies in which we invest, in line with the energy tran­si­tion. Acce­le­ra­ting EWE’s growth, espe­ci­ally in the rene­wa­ble energy sector, has been one of our common stra­te­gic goals since we joined EWE a year ago. With this part­ner­ship, the company is now taking another signi­fi­cant step on this path within a very short time, on which we warmly congra­tu­late Stefan Dohler and his team.”

Stefan Dohler, CEO of EWE AG, added: “If we still want to achieve the climate targets set in the Paris Agree­ment, we need to act quickly and, above all, decisi­vely. This requi­res strong market play­ers who have the criti­cal mass to make a diffe­rence. We are now forming such a player with the new joint venture. We consider oursel­ves fort­u­nate to have Ardian as a co-share­hol­­der who supports this goal.”

Ardian Infra­struc­ture is a pioneer in rene­wa­ble energy invest­ments in Europe and the Ameri­cas, with a total capa­city of around 5 GW in wind, solar and biomass.

About Ardian

Ardian is one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms, mana­ging over US$103 billion in assets for its inves­tors from Europe, South and North America and Asia. The company is majo­rity-owned by its employees and gene­ra­tes sustainable, attrac­tive returns for its investors.

With the objec­tive of achie­ving posi­tive results for all stake­hol­ders, Ardian’s acti­vi­ties promote indi­vi­du­als, compa­nies and econo­mies world­wide. Ardian’s invest­ment philo­so­phy is aligned with the three guiding prin­ci­ples of excel­lence, loyalty and entrepreneurship.

The company has a global network of more than 700 employees and 15 offices in Europe (Frank­furt, Jersey, London, Luxem­bourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), South America (Sant­iago de Chile), North America (New York and San Fran­cisco) and Asia (Beijing, Seoul, Singa­pore and Tokyo). Ardian mana­ges the assets of its more than 1,000 inves­tors in five invest­ment areas: Direct Funds, Funds of Funds, Infra­struc­ture, Private Debt and Real Estate.