Global electricity and natural gas provider Engie is believed to be pressing ahead with the sale of its Willogoleche Wind Farm in South Australia, with bids said to be due in the next fortnight.
Although other deals have stalled in the final stages due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, suitors were able to submit early offers online, with site visits only needed further down the track.
Working on the sale is Azure Capital and its 52 per cent shareholder, French bank Natixis.
Earlier, Engie was hoping to secure about $500m from a sale, and the initial timetable involved indicative bids due in March, but that was before the COVID-19 disruptions.
Parties that were earlier expected to line up for the asset included groups such as AMP Capital, Jemena, First Sentier Investors, Palisade Investment Partners, APA Group, China Resources, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, First State, UniSuper and Australian Super.
On offer is a stake in International Power (Australia) Holdings, which is a joint venture between 72 per cent shareholder Engie and Mitsui, the owner of the rest.
IPAH owns Willogoleche Wind Farm, but the opportunity for a buyer is not only that asset but also to invest in future projects, buying between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of the platform.
The Willogoleche wind farm, 5km from the town of Hallett, was a $250m project for Engie.
It has 32 turbines with a combined generation capacity of 119 megawatts, enough to power 80,000 houses.
The Engie and Mitsui pipeline of assets will generate 900MW.
The France-based Engie sold its Loy Yang B power station to Chow Tai Fook about three years ago for $1.2bn. It is one-third owned by the French state.
The wind farm is up for sale as John Laing also pursues a divestment of its Australian renewable business, which earlier had a price tag of about $750m.
A teaser had been sent out by adviser Macquarie Capital some time ago and parties have started signing nondisclosure agreements. On offer are eight assets, with a buyer likely to be required to write an equity cheque of about $500m.
Canadian funds such as CDPQ and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Pension Plan Investment Board and PSP could be suitors.
Australian superannuation funds such as Unisuper and infrastructure investors such as Morrison & Co could also be buyers of the solar and wind farm projects.
However, although there are buyers for the business, their hope is that problems with assets in the portfolio are first addressed before it is offloaded.
These include disputes with contractors and parts of the operation that have collapsed, along with connection issues.
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