Azora, a Madrid-based European private equity manager and one of Spain’s leading real assets investors, is to dispose of a 1.2GW Spanish renewable energy portfolio to Eni, the Italian based global integrated energy company.
The portfolio comprises three operational onshore wind farms, an onshore wind farm under construction (totalling 230MW between them) and five large solar energy projects in advanced stages of development (totalling c.1GW). The assets are located in the regions of Andalucía, Castilla la Mancha, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Galicia and La Rioja.
Azora and Eni will work together to ensure the entry into production of the five solar energy projects by 2024. In addition, Azora and Eni are working on a broader strategic agreement to further scale up Eni’s renewable energy platform in Spain.
Santiago Olivares, Senior Partner and Head of Azora’s Infrastructure team, says: “Renewable energy investment sits at the core of Azora’s capabilities and is a key conviction for us. We are proud to support Eni with its continued expansion in the renewable energy space and look forward to leveraging our 20+ year track record in the renewables sector to support such a leading global energy firm on this important growth journey.”
Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, says: “This operation allows us to increase our renewable power generation capacity with immediate effect, in compliance with our plan targets, and at the same time to reinforce our growth prospects through a pipeline of solar projects in a strategic market like the Spanish one, where Eni gas e luce is now working on this project with a strong Spanish partner as Azora and it’s boosting its renewables supply, with the aim of providing even more decarbonised energy to its customer base”.
Azora has been advised by Lazard as financial adviser and Uría Menéndez as legal adviser.
