(Alliance News) - John Laing Group PLC on Friday announced it has completed the sale of its Swedish wind farm, Rammeldalsberget, to Slitevind AB for EUR8.9 million in cash.
The FTSE 250-listed infrastructure investor first invested in Rammeldalsberget, a 15.75 megawatts onshore wind farm near Kramfors, Sweden in 2014, and brought it into operation two years later.
John Laing said the sale is consistent with its strategy to realise secondary assets and "re-invest the proceeds in new opportunities in greenfield projects, and in economic infrastructure businesses and platforms."
The investor said the sale also adds to its 2021 special dividend visibility, as the proceeds are eligible to be included in the special dividend calculation. The expected proceeds from the sales of its Australian wind farm portfolio, and the second stage of the Intercity Express Programme East divestment due to complete later in the year, will be eligible for inclusion as well. The overall total eligible proceeds amounts to GBP358 million, John Laing added.
"Following on from the completion of the sale of our Australian wind farm portfolio last week, the divestment of Rammeldalsberget is in line with our strategy to realise fully our Renewable Energy assets over the next two years. This will reduce the portfolio exposure to merchant power prices and the corresponding volatility in portfolio value and returns. The sale of Rammeldalsberget is also consistent with our approach of enhancing the efficiency of our resources as we focus on investing larger equity investments in the future and rationalising the portfolio by divesting smaller, but resource intensive assets," said Chief Executive Ben Loomes.
Shares in John Laing were up 0.2% at 308.00 pence in London on Friday.
By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com
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