Mainstream Renewable Power announced the closing of the €100 million equity investment by global Japanese Trading Company Marubeni Corporation. The deal, which was announced in August, has been approved by Mainstream’s shareholders and makes Marubeni the largest institutional investor in Mainstream with a significant minority stake of approximately 25%.
Commenting on the closing of the deal, Mainstream’s Chief Executive Eddie O’Connor said: “This is a major vote of confidence in Mainstream’s business by one of the world’s largest trading companies. We have hundreds of megawatts of wind and solar projects currently in construction across Ireland, South Africa, Chile and Canada and this investment will fund the build-out of further projects as well as allowing Mainstream to become a more significant asset owner in our projects.
He continued: In recent months we have announced significant achievements right across our jurisdictions including the ground-breaking deal with IKEA who have agreed to purchase our wind farm in Ireland, the receipt of onshore planning consent for our 450MW offshore wind farm in Scotland and the signing of a $1.4bn deal with Actis to develop a wind and solar platform in Chile.”
The deal signifies a long-term strategic alliance for both companies which will see them working closely together to accelerate Mainstream’s key projects across multiple jurisdictions. Marubeni Corporation already has business interests in the renewables sector globally, including the offshore wind industry in Europe and the electricity supply business in the UK.