The Irish Infrastructure Fund has bought a controlling stake in a portfolio of wind farms on the island of Ireland from the Viridian Group.
The fund was set up by Irish Life Investment Managers and managed by international infrastructure fund managers AMP Capital, which was advised in the deal by Macquarie Capital.
This is the fund's first investment which was set up to secure and invest up to €1 billion from international and Irish investors for significant Irish infrastructure assets including assets being disposed of by the State.
It has already secured €300m from the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) and other Irish investors.
The portfolio in today's deal consists of 104 megawatt (MW) of capacity generated by ten wind farms, eight of which are located in the Republic of Ireland.
The fund will hold a stake of at least 75% across the portfolio of wind farms as a result of the deal. Viridian’s Energia business will retain the minority interest in the portfolio and will continue to manage the wind farms and to offtake substantially all of the electricity generated by them.
''This is exactly the type of investment which the fund was designed for and we believe will be the first of many significant infrastructure investments'', said Gerry Keenan, the chief executive of Irish Life Investment Managers.
