EDP Renewables (EDPR), the world’s fourth largest renewable energy producer, has bought 87.4 percent stake in the Singapore solar energy company Sunseap for €600 million ($696.96 million).

EDPR said in a statement that it may upsize its stake to 91.4 percent.

The transaction allows EDPR to establish its presence in Asia Pacific (APAC) with 540 Megawatt (MW) of operational and under construction solar projects and a sizeable portfolio at different stages of development, namely 5.5 gigawatt (GW) of renewable projects.

This acquisition will further establish its global leadership position with a renewables platform to tap growth in APAC through a key player such as Sunseap that is fully complementary to EDPR’s footprint, geographically and technologically.

In a separate statement, Sunseap said, the deal values the company at S$1.1 billion ($820 million).

EDPR is investing at a time when Sunseap is expanding its footprint in the region, in particular with a 2.2GW project to build a floating photovoltaic farm and an energy storage system in Indonesia’s Batam island, as well as other regional interconnection projects to export renewable energy to power data centres in Singapore.

With this investment, EDPR will expand its renewables platform in Asia through Sunseap, complementing EDPR’s footprint in the rest of the world and enhancing the deployment of a portion of its $22 billion investment plan through 2025.

In addition, this tie-up will also enable knowledge transfer from EDPR to Sunseap for the Asian market, including in wind energy while generating opportunities for collaboration in areas of energy storage and green hydrogen.

“We are delighted to welcome EDPR as a major shareholder. Its strategic vision to expand in the renewable energy sector in Asia aligns with Sunseap’s mission to help our customers to decarbonise their work, home and play, and will position us to accelerate our business plan for the region,” said Frank Phuan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sunseap.

With EDP Renewables onboard, he looks forward to growing the group’s customer base, achieving greater scale and efficiency through talent access, portfolio diversification and mergers and acquisitions.

Sunseap Co-Founder and President Lawrence Wu also said EDPR is one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies and its investment marks a significant milestone for Sunseap.

“There is much to do for the Sunseap group in the coming years and we are excited to find a partner who supports our mission, values and ambition. Their global reach in 17 large markets will also create opportunities for collaboration and partnership which is key to energy transition,” he said.

According to EDPR, the establishment of the APAC platform is within the context of EDPR Business plan 2021 to 2025, where EDPR expects to invest about 1.4GW to other geographies within the 20 GW growth plan until 2025, providing visibility on growth and further reinforcing EDPR’s worldwide leading position in renewables. After the transaction, EDPR will be present in 25 international markets.

This commitment to the Asian region was materialised last June with EDPR’s entry into Vietnam through an agreement with photovoltaic and smart energy total solution provider Trina Solar.

“We are delighted to partner up with Sunseap for the Asian Pacific markets, creating a new regional platform and making EDPR a truly global renewables energy player. The strategy and vision of Sunseap is a perfect fit to EDP’s (EDPR parent company Energias de Portugal) leading role within the ongoing energy transition and its local knowledge and track-record in the Asia Pacific region, together with EDPR’s scale and technological expertise, will enable us to fully tap the potential of such markets,” said Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, EDPR Chief Executive Officer.

EDPR is owned by Portugal’s biggest utility firm Energias de Portugal. As a listed company with a market cap of $28 billion, it is also a global leader in the renewable energy sector with an installed wind and solar capacity of 13 GW. It designs, develops, manages and operates power plants that generate electricity from renewable sources and has a presence in 17 markets in Asia, Europe and America.

Sunseap Group is a solar energy system developer, owner and operator in Singapore, with over 2000 MegaWatt-peak (MWp) of solar energy projects contracted across Asia, on more than 3000 buildings in Singapore, including public housing estates, as well as commercial and industrial buildings.

It operates in various territories in Asia Pacific, including Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Its portfolio includes 5.5 GW of renewable projects at different stages of development: 540 MW operating and under construction solar projects, 127 MW of secured capacity and a 4.8 GW pipeline in different development stages.

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