NTR closes wind investment fund as its secures extra €85m

Irish investment group NTR has secured an additional €85 million to successfully close the €250 million wind investment fund it recently set up with Legal and General Capital.

Details of the fund, which is to be used to build onshore wind assets in Ireland and the UK, were first announced in late December.

NTR said on Monday it has successfully closed the NTR Wind 1 fund after securing €50 million from Strathclyde Pension Fund and €35 million from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.

NTR, which recently completed the demerger of its wind energy business, has itself previously promised €50 million for the fund while Legal and General has committed up to 47.5 per cent in funding.

At around 270MW of capacity, the fund’s total equity and project finance capital requirement amounts to approximately €670 million. A minimum of €80 million is targeted to be invested in pre-construction renewable investments in the Irish Single Electricity Market.

“We are delighted to have attracted such calibre of institutional money into this, our first wind management fund. The line up of institutional investment partners that have come into the fund is a validation of NTR’s track record and of our proposition to make long term investments in attractive yielding renewable assets.,” said chief executive Rosheen McGurkian.

Advisors to NTR were Arthur Cox, Canaccord Genuity, Carey Olsen and KPMG.

In addition to its direct investment in the fund, Legal and General has partnered with the Irish utility group in order to explore further prospects in the clean energy sector, through an investment in the company’s clean energy investment and asset management business, NTR Wind Management Limited.