CDC Infrastructure announced today that it has acquired a stake in the Butendiek offshore wind farm. The stake was sold by the Marguerite Fund, which divested 33.3% of its 22.5% participation in Butendiek.

The Butendiek wind farm project will consist of 80 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 288 megawatts. The project is situated in the North Sea, in the German Exclusive Economic Zone, 32 km west of the island of Sylt and near the German-Danish border. The initial closing of this ambitious project was achieved in February 2013 with a consortium of investors composed of industrial partners and long-term oriented institutional investors, namely Marguerite Fund (22,5%), Siemens Financial Services (22,5%), Industriens Pension (22,5%), PKA (22,5%) and wpd (10%), the developer and operator of the project.

Following this operation, CDC Infrastructure will own 7.5% of the project.

The total investment volume is approx. €1.3 billion. Project debt financing has been arranged by KfW IPEX, UniCredit and Bremer Landesbank, in a consortium with European Investment Bank, KfW Förderbank, Denmark's Eksport Kredit Fonden and further commercial banks including BayernLB, HeLaBa, HSH Nordbank, ING, Rabo Bank and SEB.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending €450 million for the wind farm and all loans will total around €940 million.

Linklaters and SgurrEnergy advised the group of investors.

Construction work is due to commence in the first half of 2014 and will last until mid-2015. Once the offshore wind farm is entirely connected in 2015, its total annual production will allow supplying some 370,000 households with ecofriendly electricity.

For Jean Bensaid, CEO of CDC Infra Management:

"This acquisition represents CDC Infrastructure's first investment in the offshore wind sector, aiming to bring others in its wake, notably in France. The renewable energies are one of the most important pillars to achieve the energy transition, a crucial issue for the French and European economies."

For Nicolás Merigó, CEO of Marguerite:

"We welcome CDC Infrastructure as co-investment partner into this landmark transaction."