Supporting renewable energy investments

Societe Generale has once again demonstrated its strong expertise in the renewable energy sector at the service of wind power. On May 10th, Enbridge Inc., a leading Canadian energy company, announced its acquisition of a 50% stake in three French offshore wind projects owned by EDF EN and DONG Energy. Societe Generale acted as advisor to Enbridge in the acquisition.

Enbridge replaces DONG Energy as shareholder in the projects and will, together with EDF EN, develop, build and operate the offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 1.4 gigawatts and an estimated investment cost of approximately EUR 6.0bn.

These projects go hand in hand with an industrial plan to manufacture the wind turbines designed by Alstom that will create c. 7,500 employees in France.

Each project will export electricity to shore via the national transmission grid owned by Réseau de Transport d’Electricité, a wholly-owned subsidiary of French company EDF. The electricity offtaker will be EDF, with the French State being an 85% shareholder. A 20-year PPA will provide revenue security and predictability.

Thanks to its unprecedented offshore wind expertise, Societe Generale was able to bring together Enbridge and EDF EN as partners, both companies being longstanding clients of Societe Generale. This acquisition represents a unique opportunity for Enbridge to diversify both in terms of geographical exposure to Europe as well as technology into offshore wind.

The deal exhibits Societe Generale’s unique corporate finance expertise in the renewable energy sector and more particularly in the wind power space, where the bank has recently contributed to the successful development of multiple offshore wind farm projects acting as Financial Advisor and Mandated Lead Arranger on three recently closed offshore projects in the UK and acting as Mandated Lead Arranger on transactions in Belgium and in Germany for which closing is expected in the course of 2016.