Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), a Canadian Crown corporation, has agreed to offload its 24.5% stake in two German offshore wind farms to a subsidiary of Enbridge.
The pension fund is selling the stake through its unit CPPIB Renewables Europe.
It expects to garner C$374m ($273.7m) in net proceeds from the sale, following certain costs and adjustments.
This deal is anticipated to close by the end of this year, upon the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
The wind farms, namely the 497MW Hohe See and 112MW Albatros, have been operating since 2019 and 2020, respectively. They are located around 100km off the coast in the German North Sea.
Together, they generate 2.5 million megawatt-hours of clean electricity annually, enough to power more than 700,000 homes.
CPP Investments managing director and sustainable energies global head Bill Rogers said: “Since our initial investment in these assets in 2018, the European offshore wind market has continued to mature and we have realised solid returns during our ownership.
“The renewable energy sector, and offshore wind specifically, remains an important investment strategy for us, and we will continue to seek opportunities in the sector that best fit the scale and flexibility of our capital.”
In May 2018, the Canadian pension fund acquired 49% of Enbridge’s interests in select North American onshore renewable assets and 49% of its stake in the German wind farms for C$1.75bn.
These assets included 14 wind and solar assets in Canada as well as two operating assets in the US (one wind and one solar), with a capacity totalling around 1.3GW.
CPPIB’s investment was used for the construction of the German offshore wind projects. The majority (50.1%) stake in these wind farms is owned by German electric utility EnBW.