Alternative asset manager Aquila Capital has announced it has acquired Norway's second-largest operator of small-scale hydropower plants on behalf of institutional clients that include Dutch pension fund ABP and German insurance companies.
The company acquired Norsk Grønnkraft AS, an operator of 33 small-scale facilities located in central and southern Norway, with an average age of eight year, from owners Akershus Energi, Energiselskapet Buskerud, E-CO Energi and Østfold Energi. The terms of the investment are not being disclosed.
Aquila Capital has completed the
"This is one of the largest acquisitions of a small-scale Norwegian operator and shows how Aquila Capital has established a hydropower platform of scale in Norway since the first investment there in 2011," commented Oldrik Verloop, Co-Head of Hydropower at Aquila Capital. "We aim to increase our production volume in Norway during the next five years to over 1,000 GWh."
This is the third investment in Norwegian hydropower by Aquila Capital for its clients. It follows the July 2014 acquisition of a 33% stake in Tinfos AS, an operator of two large-scale and nine small-scale run- of-river hydropower facilities, by a partnership between Aquila Capital and APG, the investment manager that acts for ABP. In June 2011, funds advised by Aquila Capital also acquired 33% of Jørpeland Kraft AS, which operates two run-of-river installations in the vicinity of Stavanger in western Norway.
