Duke Energy has entered into a definitive agreement to sell a minority interest in a portion of its commercial renewable energy portfolio owned and operated by its affiliate, Duke Energy Renewables, to the John Hancock Infrastructure Fund and John Hancock Life Insurance Co., a division of Manulife Financial Corp.
The total enterprise value of this portion of Duke Energy’s commercial renewable energy portfolio is approximately $1.25 billion (including proportional existing project-level debt). The sale will result in pre-tax proceeds to Duke Energy of $415 million. As majority owner, Duke Energy remains committed to growing its commercial renewable energy business. The transaction will help fund the company’s future growth capital plans with proceeds used to reduce future debt issuance needs. Duke Energy will retain the majority of the remaining tax benefits from the projects.
The portion of Duke Energy’s commercial renewables energy portfolio to be sold includes 49 percent of 37 operating wind, solar and battery storage assets and 33 percent of 11 operating solar assets across the United States. Once the sale has closed, John Hancock’s interest will represent approximately 1.2 gigawatts of generating capacity.
John Hancock will also have the right to acquire a minority interest in certain additional wind and solar projects in the future, providing a potential source of future growth capital to Duke Energy.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019.
JHIF, an infrastructure-focused private equity fund with approximately $2 billion of committed capital, is managed by John Hancock’s infrastructure team and is part of Manulife Private Markets.