Bankinter : The electricity company is finalising an agreement with Crédit Agricole to incorporate it as a partner in the development of offshore wind projects in France. The two groups will jointly participate in the tenders that the French government will hold in the coming weeks to award hundreds of megawatts of offshore wind power. One will award 250MW in Brittany and the other 500MW in the Mediterranean.
Assessment: Good news. This agreement with Crédit Agricole is another step forward in Iberdrola’s (IBE) successful search for alliances to support its growth. In financial jargon, this scheme is known as stewardship. It involves incorporating stable partners that provide financial muscle to accelerate the development of projects. Iberdrola continues to maintain control and management of the assets. These types of partners are usually pension funds, infrastructure funds or insurance companies seeking long-term investments in stable businesses that generate regular cash flows and visibility.
Iberdrola now has 496 MW under development in France with investments of €2,500M. If it wins new projects, it would almost triple its presence in France, with additional investments of €3.5 billion in which Crédit would be a minority financial partner. Iberdrola has reached this type of stewardship scheme agreements with partners such as Norges (Norwegian sovereign wealth fund), GIP (Singapore sovereign wealth fund), RIP (Energy Infrastructure Partners) and Mapfre.
