Macquarie Group is raising A$1bn (€608m) by way of a share placing to finance acquisition of assets in the green energy, infrastructure and technology sector.
Macquarie Group’s chief executive officer, Shemara Wikramanayake, said the reason for the raising was that the group expected to have used A$1.6bn of capital by the second quarter of its fiscal 2020 year ending 31 March.
“In addition to that, we see another good pipeline ahead of us, so we want to make sure that we’re well-positioned to be able to support that growth.”
She spoke of “ongoing huge opportunity” for investment in renewables, the need for a lot more capital in infrastructure, and the changes in technology.
The group, led by Macquarie Capital had made several recent acquisitions including a 40% stake in East Anglia ONE, an offshore wind farm in the UK and a Norwegian wind farm acquired from Spanish Power.
The group also acquired the Taiwanese Formosa 2 Wind Farm, which would provide power, electricity and renewable power for 380,000 households, said Wikramanayake.
Other parts of the group, including Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Macquarie Asset Management, were also expected to be doing deals, she said.
“Governments around the world, as well as businesses and industries, are looking for this sort of capital, together with the skill sets that we have that allow us to generate much more value than the beta returns.
“So we’re finding still, in what has been a low return environment for many, many years, the opportunity to generate very good returns for investors by generating returns for communities.,” she said.
Wikramanayake said big investors were looking to shift their capital into these sectors because they are getting “very strong returns” from investing in renewable energy.
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