Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) has sold 49.89 percent of its shares in the offshore wind farm EnBW Baltic 2 to Macquarie Capital, the principal investment, advisory and capital markets arm of Macquarie Group.

The transaction has been funded through a combination of equity from Macquarie Capital and debt financing from a number of commercial banks. Macquarie said:

"The debt was structured and raised as a large tranche of HoldCo level debt. This is the first time this innovative transaction structure has been used in the German offshore wind sector."

Thomas Kusterer, EnBW Chief Financial Officer, said:

"This means that we have now successfully implemented our second participation model in the area of offshore wind energy. EnBW utilises participation models to generate additional financial scope for pushing forward the development of other growth projects."

The purchase price for the shares, which will be transferred to Macquarie Capital after antitrust approval and the full commissioning of the offshore wind farm that is expected next summer, is circa €720 million.

At the same time, EnBW will take over responsibility for the management of the wind farm and the maintenance work. As a result, the company will also correspondingly expand its service business.

EnBW already started operating its first commercial offshore wind farm EnBW Baltic 1 in 2010, which was also offered as a participation model: A total of 19 municipal utilities, primarily from Baden-Württemberg, have held a combined 49.9 percent share of the wind farm since it was commissioned.

EnBW Baltic 2 is being constructed 32 kilometres north of the Baltic island of Rügen. The erection of the turbines is currently in full swing: 34 wind power turbines have already been installed. It is anticipated that - subject to suitable weather conditions - the first power turbines will start feeding electricity into the grid in the next few weeks.

The full commissioning of EnBW Baltic 2 is scheduled for spring 2015 with 80 wind power turbines and a total capacity of 288 megawatts. The offshore wind farm can generate 1,200 gigawatt hours of electricity per year that covers the theoretical requirements of around 340,000 households and will save 900,000 tonnes of CO2.