Union Investment, through its infrastructure fund 'UniInstitutional Infrastruktur SICAV-SIF', has acquired two wind farms located in Greneville en Beauce, France, and Gibbet Hill (County Wexford) in Ireland. The onshore wind farms have been in operation since July.

The vendor of the wind farm in Greneville, comprising eight turbines with total output of 24 megawatts, is VSB Energies Nouvelles, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dresden-based WSB Group.

The Gibbet Hill wind farm, which consists of six turbines with total output of 15 megawatts, from project developer ABO Wind of Wiesbaden. The turbines are from leading manufacturers Vestas and Nordex.

Ten months after inception, Union Investment's first infrastructure fund now holds four European wind farms in three different countries representing a signed investment commitment of approximately €143 million.

Christoph Schumacher, a member of the management team at Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH, which acts as investment adviser to the fund, said:

"We are pleased that the fund has achieved the planned broad diversification across different turbine manufacturers and also different feed-in systems within such a short space of time.We want to expand the portfolio in Germany, the UK and France in particular. The first solar park will probably be transferred to holdings sometime this year."

In August 2013, Union Investment made a second closing of its infrastructure fund launched last year, collecting additional €100 million in equity for total investment capacity of €350 million. The focus will be on wind farms (onshore projects), making up around 70% of total assets. An investment of up to 30% in photovoltaic systems is also planned.

Union Investment is the investment arm of the DZ Bank Group and part of the cooperative financial services network. It is headquartered in Frankfurt.