Palisade Investment Partners and First Sentier Investors have jointly purchased a 50% interest in Australia’s Macarthur Wind Farm from Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) for around A$1bn (€631m).
As manager of the asset, Morrison & Co negotiated the sale on behalf of CSC.
Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund (PREF) will own the asset. First Sentier Investors will be a co-shareholder in the transaction through its portfolio company, Atmos Renewables.
Macarthur Wind Farm in Victoria is Australia’s second-largest operating wind farm, operating 140 wind turbines and is capable of generating 420MW of energy.
Roger Lloyd, CEO of Palisade, said that with the latest acquisition, the firm had reached its initial 1GW target set when it launched the Palisade Renewable Energy Fund.
“We continue to pursue high-quality renewable energy investments and participate in the ongoing transition to clean energy,” said Lloyd.
Simon Parbery, executive director at Palisade, said: “Macarthur is an attractive asset providing investors with exposure to fixed, long-term, contracted cash flows that are not exposed to volume or price risk.
“These features, in combination with Palisade’s bespoke acquisition structure, provide PREF investors with increased fund level returns and improved downside protection across the combined portfolio.”
Alison Tarditi, CIO of CSC, said: “Our divestment enables us to recycle capital from a mature, operating asset into three renewable-development platform investments.”
Tarditi added that the super fund continued to seek strong returns by creating significant new renewable energy capacity across solar, wind, hydro and biogas projects.
To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.
