Partners Group acquires wind farm in Australia for $129m

Global private equity firm Partners Group on Monday announced the acquisition of the second stage of Murra Warra Wind Farm (Murra Warra II) in Australia for A$180 million ($129 million), bolstering its wind energy portfolio in the country.

The purchase comes nearly two years after Partners Group took over the 226 megawatts (MW) first stage of the said wind farm for A$200 million ($143 million) from Macquarie Capital and renewable energy firm Renewable Energy Systems (RES).

Macquarie Capital and RES put the second phase of the Murra Warra Wind Farm, next to Murra Warra I, on the market as early as October 2019, according to earlier reports. The project, which is expected to be completed by mid-2022, will have a total capacity of 209 MW.

Partners Group said Murra Warra II would generate clean energy to power 150,000 Australian households and offset over 468,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year once completed.

Even before the start of the wind farm’s construction, the project has entered into a long-term power purchase agreement with Snowy Hydro, an Australian government-owned electricity generator and retailer, for 100 per cent of the capacity.

“Investing into Murra Warra II at the construction phase and successfully delivering the project through to its operational phase is consistent with both our ‘platform expansion’ and ‘building core’ strategies in infrastructure,” said Andrew Kwok, managing director and head of private infrastructure Asia at Partners Group.

The acquisition of Murra Warra II is Partners Group’s sixth major wind farm investment in Australia since 2015 when it invested in the development of Ararat Wind Farm.

In 2018, Partners Group committed to invest A$700 million ($500 million) to develop Grassroots Renewable Energy Platform. This large-scale platform aims to construct over 1.3GW of new wind power, solar power, and battery storage assets across Australia within the next four years.

“We continue to believe the Australian renewable energy sector is benefiting from a transformative trend, with a significant amount of coal-fired generation retirements expected in the coming decade,” Kwok said.

Partners Group launched its first $1 billion global impact fund – PG LIFE – in March 2018 to focus on investments in education, healthcare, energy access, clean energy, and social inclusion.

Since 1996, the PE firm has invested over $135 billion in private equity, private real estate, debt, and infrastructure on behalf of its clients globally. It manages over $96 billion in assets as of June 2020.

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