21 December 2022.
Sydney, Australia – Palisade Investment Partners Limited (Palisade) and Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super (Aware Super) have agreed to acquire a 49% interest in Stockyard Hill Wind Farm (Stockyard Hill or the Project) from Goldwind Stockyard Hill Wind Farm Limited (Goldwind).
With a total capacity of 528MW, Stockyard Hill is the largest operating wind farm in the National Electricity Market and produces enough renewable energy to power approximately 425,000 homes annually. The Project comprises 149 Goldwind turbines and reached practical completion in September 2022. Goldwind has agreed to provide ongoing Operations and Maintenance services to the Project under a long-term agreement. All electricity and Large-scale Generation Certificates generated are sold under a long-term offtake agreement with Origin Energy Limited.
Palisade Executive Director, James Hann, said: “We are pleased to secure this high-quality investment on behalf of our clients. Stockyard Hill provides our investors with exposure to long-term contracted cashflows and represents further diversification across our growing portfolio of renewable energy investments. This acquisition represents a continuation of our strategy to invest across the spectrum of renewable energy assets including high quality greenfield and brownfield projects.”
Aware Super Senior Portfolio Manager Infrastructure and Real Assets – Mark Hector, said: “We believe Stockyard Hill Wind Farm will provide a valuable, new source of strong risk-adjusted returns for our members’ $1 billion renewable energy portfolio. It also reaffirms our investment strategy to actively pursue those assets we believe will benefit from the transition to a lower carbon future.”
The transaction is expected to reach financial close in January 2023.
Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF) will coinvest with Aware Super via a special purpose vehicle to acquire the 49% interest in the Project. PDIF has provided investors with a total gross return of 12.6% per annum, including 7.3% of gross income, over the ten years to 30 September 2022.
Palisade and Aware Super were advised on the transaction by Macquarie Capital (Financial Adviser), King & Wood Mallesons (Legal Adviser) and Clayton Utz (Tax Adviser).
For further information please contact:
Palisade Investment Partners
James Hann
Executive Director
James.Hann@palisadepartners.com.au
M: +61 421 407 260
Benjamin Sweeney
Investment Director
Benjamin.Sweeney@palisadepartners.com.au
M: +61 466 473 633
Download the full media release here