Allianz has entered the Austrian wind market with the purchase of four wind farms, bringing the insurance firm's investment in renewables to over €2.5bn ($2.7bn).
Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) – Allianz's in-house asset manager for alternative investments – has acquired the four projects from Austrian wind developer ImWind for an undisclosed amount.
The four projects are Scharndorf III, Zistersdorf Ost, Ladendorf and Großkrut-Hauskirchen-Wilfersdorf, the first two of which have been completed and added to Allianz's portfolio.
The other two are currently under construction and will be added to Allianz's portfolio when they enter commercial operation in spring 2016.
The acquisition will add 65MW of wind capacity to ACP's portfolio, which comprises 54 winds farms with over 1,000MW installed capacity, and seven solar parks across France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and now Austria.
ACP's head of renewables, David Jones, said: "This acquisition is a major step: we are passing the €2.5bn investment milestone and it provides further diversification to our portfolio."
ACP manages around €12bn ($13bn) of alternative assets – 20% of which are renewables. The investment manager also holds assets in infrastructure projects and private equity throughout Europe and the US.
Jones said last month that wind and solar farms offer stable, long-term yields for insurers, which make them attractive for investors like ACP.
Jones said ACP always acquires 100% of a wind or solar farm and the projects remain on ACP's books until the end of their operating lives, which provides "an investment horizon of at least 25 years."
Wind's attractiveness is two-sided, said Jones, who warned last December that asset prices were approaching 'bubble-level' because of the growing volume of capital from new and inexperienced investors.
ACP claimed its renewables portfolio generates enough energy to supply power to over 800,000 European households.
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