MADRID, April 28 (Reuters) – Three companies are competing to acquire a minority stake of up to 49% in Iberdrola’s “Baltic Eagle” offshore wind farm, off the German coast, newspaper Expansión reported on Friday, citing market sources. not identified.
Leading candidates for the transaction, valued at about 700 million euros ($769 million), are Abu Dhabi-based Masdar, Swiss fund EIP and GIG, the green investment arm of Australian asset manager Macquarie, according to Expansion.
The sale is part of Iberdrola’s strategy to sell advanced renewable projects to obtain cash to partially finance its investment plan of 47,000 million euros.
Iberdrola and Macquarie declined to comment, while the other two prospective buyers did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
According to Expansión, Masdar was the best positioned of the three candidates to win the tender.
Iberdrola expects to close the operation in May, Expansión added.
(1 dollar = 0.9098 euros)
(Reporting by David Latona, Pietro Lombardi and Inti Landauro; Editing by Mark Potter, Spanish editing by José Muñoz)
