Qataris take half-stake in Stockyard Hill wind farm

The Qatar-based Nebras Power has purchased an interest in the country’s largest wind farm development, Stockyard Hill, in a transaction that values the Victorian development at $1.2bn.

It is understood that Nebras is acquiring 49 per cent of the project from Chinese windmill turbine manufacturer Goldwind, which will remain as operator of the asset.

The transaction was advised by HSBC.

Last week, a half-share in the Macarthur Wind Farm, which is the largest in the southern hemisphere, was sold by Malakoff to AMP Capital for $880m, which was considered a strong price.

With respect to Stockyard Hill, Nebras earlier moved to purchase the asset with Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

However, MIRA has abandoned the deal because Gold Wind would stay as the operator, leaving Nebras as the sole acquirer.

It depends on Foreign Investment Review Board clearance.

Located in Victoria, 35km west of Ballarat, Stockyard Hill has approval for 149 turbines, providing up to 536MW of wind energy, and the right to develop the asset up on offer from Origin Energy in 2017.

KPMG had been selling Stockyard Hill, which cost of $1.1bn build and needed a $350m equity injection.

Origin Energy sold the Stockyard Hill development to Malakoff in 2017 for $110m.

It is understood the Nebras deal was signed Friday night.

Nebras is a Qatari power investment vehicle, a joint venture between sovereign wealth fund QIA and State utility QEWC.

The transaction is one of the largest in the renewable space this year.

KWM and Allens were legal advisers for Nebras and Goldwind respectively.

The transaction has FIRB approval. It is the second deal for HSBC in recent months after it advised Chinese dairy company Mengniu on their $1.5bn acquisition of Bellamy’s.

Meanwhile, DataRoom can reveal that the London-based HSBC is also advising Brookfield on its sale of the $2bn-plus Dalrymple Bay Coal terminal in Queensland.

The port is one of the state’s major metallurgical coal export facilities. Indicative bids for the asset are due on February 7 with an investor roadshow to start shortly.

Brookfield secured control of the asset during the financial crisis in 2009 when it embarked on a $1.8bn recapitalisation of Babcock and Brown Infrastructure, which essentially comprised the DBCT.

The move to offload the assets follows Brookfield’s sale of its half-share in Genesee and Wyoming Australia to joint venture partner MIRA for about $1bn.

It comes after a major spending spree recently by the Canadian private equity firm, which purchased private hospital operator Healthscope this year for $4.4bn and retirement village operator Aveo for $1.3bn.

Elsewhere, Shell is expected to sell through Rothschild at least $2.5bn of infrastructure assets it inherited as part of its Queensland Gas acquisition in 2020.

The pipes, jetties and storage terminals of the two-train LNG liquefaction plant of Queensland’s Curtis Island, which is majority-owned by Shell, are expected to be sold with a take or pay contract lasting for up to 20 years.

It may be the case that the interest of any buyer of the assets will rest on their view of the project, which was inherited by Shell as part of its acquisition of BG Group, which had purchased Queensland Gas.