Ardian, a private investment house, has signed an agreement to sell Kallista Energy Investment, a wind energy producer in which Ardian holds a 100 percent stake through its third generation infrastructure fund, to Boralex, a firm in the Canadian renewable energy market and the first independent wind energy company in France.
Renewable energy transactions represent around 50 percent of the M&A volume in the infrastructure sector. Ardian has a portfolio of 1.4 gigwatts of production capacity built since 2006 via investments in France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Peru, Chili and the United States, in wind, solar, hydraulic, biogas and biomass projects. Among these investments, Kallista Energy Investment generates 163 megawatts with a pipe of around 170 megawatts, which makes it one of the largest renewable platforms in France.
Following Ardian’s acquisition of the company in 2011, Kallista Energy Investment launched a development program that led to doubling the size of the company. The Kallista platform also specializes in “repowering”, which consists of replacing old windmills with new, more powerful turbines and a more advanced technology, helping the company to better profit from the wind energy potential of these sites. As a result of this approach, Kallista is able to multiply energy production by two times or even more.
“Renewable energy, including wind, is an efficient, reliable and therefore increasingly important source of energy. We have a strong commitment to the renewable energy sector and we are continuously looking to renew, diversify and develop our renewable energy portfolio. Our plan is to pursue this development strategy, notably in the United States, Latin America and Scandinavia,” said Mathias Burghardt, head of Ardian Infrastructure.
Ardian has $67 billion of assets under management or advised in Europe, North America and Asia.