Eaglestone Makes First Investment in Australian Wind

Eaglestone NV, an investor in renewable energy, struck its first private-equity deal by backing a portfolio of Australian wind-power projects alongside Denham Capital Management LP.

The planned wind farms include the 100-megawatt Glen Innes project in New South Wales, the 250-megawatt Lincoln Gap venture and the 240-megawatt Cattle Hill site in Tasmania, Eaglestone said today in an e-mailed statement. All are due to have their financing in place this year and next.

It's the first investment by Eaglestone's Infraventus Holdings venture with Infraventus Capital Partners, for which Eaglestone plans to raise 100 million euros ($135 million). The company declined to say how much it has invested in the Australian projects, or what share of the portfolio it bought.

"The investment will give our investors an excellent portfolio of projects that are close to reaching financial completion," Eaglestone Chief Executive Officer Pedro Neto said in the statement. "Australia already produces over 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources, but it has a way to go before it reaches its 2020 target of producing 20 percent."

The package of projects, called the OneWind Australia portfolio, has the potential to expand to 1,000 megawatts of capacity, according to the statement. Denham Capital said in May it was putting $75 million of equity into OneWind Australia.

Eaglestone, founded in December 2011, is based in Amsterdam and has offices in London, Lisbon and Cape Town, as well Luanda and Maputo, the capitals of Angola and Mozambique.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net