Keppel Infrastructure to enter joint venture with Swiss energy firm

KEPPEL Infrastructure, the infrastructure unit of Keppel Corporation, is investing about 30 million euros (S$42.6 million) to take a 49.9 per cent stake in a new joint venture (JV) with Swiss-based energy company Met Group.

The funds will come from Keppel Infrastructure’s sale of half of its 20 per cent interest in Met Group to the latter’s chief executive, Benjamin Lakatos, for 31.9 million euros. Keppel Infrastructure had acquired its initial stake in the European company in late 2019.

Keppel Infrastructure said on Wednesday (Nov 16) that the aggregate book value and net tangible asset value of its new JV shares stood at 4.6 million euros as at Sep 30.

It added that the transaction is not expected to have any material impact on Keppel Corporation’s net tangible assets per share or earnings per share for the current financial year.

The new JV will be called Keppel MET Renewables, with Keppel Infrastructure and Met Group to hold a 49.9 per cent stake each. The remaining 0.2 per cent will be held by Lakatos.

The JV will pursue renewable energy projects across Western Europe. It targets to “scale up rapidly” to at least one gigawatt of operating and ready-to-build renewable energy projects.

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The venture will be seeded with an initial portfolio of 213 megawatts of early-stage solar projects in Italy from Met Group. These assets are expected to achieve commercial operations, in phases, between end-2024 and mid-2025.

Cindy Lim, chief executive of Keppel Infrastructure, said the initial portfolio offers an attractive platform for the company to “form a beachhead in the burgeoning renewables sector in Western Europe”. 

“The European Green Deal and the REpowerEU plan give rise to vast opportunities for renewable energy projects and sector coupling across the EU economy which aim to set a more resilient and sustainable energy system,” she added. 

Shares of Keppel Corporation : BN4 0% closed 0.3 per cent or S$0.02 lower at S$7.29 on Tuesday.