Egypt's EFG Hermes announced on Thursday that its renewable energy platform, Vortex, had bought a 49 percent stake in an operational 664 MW portfolio of European wind assets from EDP Renovaveis for €550 million ($618.26 million). The deal doubled Vortex's private equity assets under management to $1.1 billion, and took the group's total to $3.5 billion, EFG Hermes said in a statement. A sale and purchase agreement for the transaction was signed in April 2016 between EFG Hermes' private equity arm and EDP Renovaveis, and includes a portfolio of 23 wind farms in Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium. "The successful close of this landmark deal provides EFG Hermes' private equity division with considerable traction in Europe's renewable energy space, a key pillar of EFG Hermes' regional and global expansion strategy," said EFG Hermes Chief Executive Officer Karim Awad in the statement. The acquisition increases Vortex's net installed capacity to 457 MW across Western Europe, rising from 132 MW of net installed capacity as of late 2014, when Vortex had acquired a 49 percent equity stake in EDPR France in a $208 million transaction. The investment bank said on Sunday it planned to distribute 1.08 billion Egyptian pounds ($122 million) to shareholders and step up its growth strategy after selling a 40 percent stake in Lebanese lender Credit Libanais. Source: Reuters
