PARIS: Brookfield (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM), together with its institutional partners including Brookfield Renewable and Temasek, through a special purpose vehicle exclusively controlled by Brookfield, has entered into exclusive negotiations to purchase a 53.32% shareholding in Neoen, a leading global renewable energy developer headquartered in France, from Impala, the Fonds Stratégique de Participations (FSP), Cartusia and Xavier Barbaro, and other shareholders at a price per share of 39.85 euros.
Following the block acquisition, Brookfield Renewable Holdings would file a mandatory cash tender offer for the remaining shares and OCEANEs in Neoen at a price of 39.85 euros per share and at a price per OCEANEs issued in 2020 and 2022 in line with the offer price for the shares and the terms of each OCEANE.
Connor Teskey, CEO, Renewable Power & Transition at Brookfield Asset Management, said: “Under Impala’s sponsorship, Neoen has built one of the world’s greatest renewable energy development platforms.
We are excited to build on Brookfield’s expertise, track-record and access to capital to further accelerate Neoen’s growth while preserving its culture and identity. Acquiring Neoen further strengthens Brookfield’s global scale, while diversifying into key renewables markets and adding expertise in battery storage technology.
We look forward to partnering with management to scale-up the business to meet the growing demand we are seeing for clean power.”
Jacques Veyrat, founder and president at Impala said: “Impala is delighted to sell the control of Neoen to Brookfield, a responsible actor and world leader in the renewable energy market . Impala created Neoen 15 years ago and have since then supported every stage of its development in France and then internationally, with an outstanding success in Australia.
With the financial backing of this new shareholder and the talent of Xavier Barbaro and his teams, Neoen will be able to continue its growth trajectory.”
Xavier Barbaro, Neoen’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “After 15 years of successful and profitable growth with Impala as our key shareholder, we are thrilled to open a new chapter in Neoen’s history, with the arrival of Brookfield as our new majority shareholder.
We look forward to developing a strong relation with Brookfield that will take Neoen to the next phase of its growth story, further consolidating its leadership position as an independent producer of renewable energy, and one of the most dynamic globally. Our Board of Directors fully welcomes the transaction and sees Brookfield as a partner of choice to preserve the structure and identity of Neoen in the best interests of its employees and its stakeholders.”
Neoen is a leading global renewables developer with an 8,000 megawatts high-quality portfolio of wind, solar and storage assets in operation or under construction alongside a significant 20,000 megawatts advanced pipeline of development projects, located in strategic markets, particularly in Australia, France and the Nordics.
Neoen has significant expertise in battery storage technology, which will become an increasingly important part of the energy mix going forward. Neoen’s best-in-class capabilities include an experienced management team with in-house development, financing and operational capabilities and a track record of successfully delivering more than 1,000 megawatts of renewable capacity on an annual basis in attractive global markets.
Operating across five continents and managing a diverse portfolio of hydro, wind, solar, distributed energy and sustainable solutions assets, Brookfield is one of the world’s largest investors in renewable power and transition assets, with almost 34,000 megawatts of generating capacity and a development pipeline of approximately 157,000 megawatts. Brookfield has been active in France since 2015 with over 23 billion euros (US$25 billion) invested, across 15 different investments.
Brookfield sees the investment in Neoen as an opportunity to scale Neoen’s portfolio of diverse high-quality assets in a context of accelerating clean power demand. Brookfield is well positioned to support and accelerate Neoen’s high quality development pipeline thanks to its access to capital and in-depth industry knowledge. The growth of AI and cloud computing continues to drive higher demand for renewable sources of power, as typified by Brookfield’s recent agreement to supply Microsoft with over 10,500 megawatts of renewable power, the world’s largest such power supply deal.
Brookfield is pursuing the transaction through the Brookfield Global Transition Fund II which is Brookfield’s flagship vehicle for investing in and facilitating the global transition to a net-zero economy, co-headed by Mark Carney and Connor Teskey. This fund aims to deliver strong risk-adjusted financial returns for investors and meaningful decarbonization impact.
Brookfield Renewable, the largest investor in the Brookfield Global Transition Fund II, expects to invest up to 500 million euros (US$540 million) in the acquisition, which will be funded through available liquidity.
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