Barry Gavin to be next Gaelectric chief executive

Gaelectric has picked Barry Gavin as its next chief executive as the renewable energy company advances plans to sell control of its wind farm assets, which have attracted bidders including Viridian's new owner.

Mr Gavin (50), brother of Dublin Gaelic football manager Jim Gavin, will replace fellow co-founder of the company, Brendan McGrath, as chief executive at the end of this week, the company said on Wednesday in response to questions from The Irish Times.

Mr McGrath (68), whose brother Eamonn is the third founding shareholder of the group that was established in 2004, “will be continuing his involvement with Gaelectic in a number of special project areas”, the company said in a statement.

The development comes as Gaelectric's plans to sell a majority stake in its portfolio of almost 230 megawatts of wind farm assets that are operating or under construction on the island of Ireland. Sources said that US investment firm I-Squared Capital, which bought Northern Ireland energy group Viridian in April for about €1 billion, is among bidders circling the assets.

Viridian owns gas and electricity supplier Energia in the Republic.

Competing bids

The Gaelectric wind business, which targets having about 400 megawatts of assets in operation by the end of next year, is reportedly worth as much as €690 million, including debt. A spokesman for Gaelectric declined to comment on the process, while I-Squared did not respond to a request for comment.

Equitix, a UK fund manager, has also launched a joint bid with German investment firm Prime Capital for the business, according to Sparkspread, an industry publication, which has also linked Chinese energy giant, China Nuclear Power Corp, to the process.

Gaelectric initially sought to sell a majority stake in the assets, with a view to continuing to manage the portfolio. However, it is believed that some of the bidders envisage taking full control of the wind farms.

Gaelectric counts Wexford beef baron Bert Allen, owner of Slaney Foods, among its main shareholders, while US private equity firm Lone Star took a significant minority stake earlier this year.

The three co-founders reportedly continue to own more than 40 per cent of the company, with further shares held by staff. The company’s other divisions include an energy storage business as well as bio-energy and solar energy units.

Mr Gavin served as Gaelectric's long-standing chief financial officer before becoming chief operating officer last year as the company hired Shane Doherty, former European finance director at bookmaker Paddy Power, for the CFO role.