JPMorgan to Sell Bard
“The U.S. investment bank JPMorgan has been mandated with the search for a strategic investor,” Bard said today in an e- mailed statement. The new ownership structure will be decided by the end of the first quarter, according to the statement.
Bard, based in Emden, was founded in 2003 by Arngolt Bekker, who at the age of 76 has decided to sell, spokesman Andreas Koelling said by telephone on Aug. 31. The owners plan to divest an 87.5 percent stake, Koelling said.
Bard heads a group of companies covering all stages of offshore wind development, including Bard Emden Energy GmbH, which makes rotor blades and components for turbines and assembles the machines. The group also comprises a project development and investment company for offshore wind farms as well as units for installation and turbine maintenance.
The company is developing the Bard Offshore 1 project, a 400-megawatt park about 90 kilometers (56 miles) northwest of Borkum island in Germany. Its partner UniCredit SpA has arranged financing for the venture, Bard said in today’s statement, without elaborating. The company couldn’t immediately be reached for further comment.
Bard said Aug. 29 that it sold its shares in one of its planned wind farms, the 600-megawatt Bard-Nederland project in the Dutch North Sea, to Typhoon Offshore BV, a unit of clean- energy investor Typhoon Capital BV, and Dutch energy provider HVC Groep. Bard will still supply turbines to the project.
Source: Offshorewindbiz