Ørsted in talks to sell stake in £8.5bn UK wind project to Apollo
Danish developer and US private capital group discuss deal for Hornsea 3 wind farm
The world’s largest offshore wind developer, Ørsted, is in talks to sell a stake in its flagship UK project to Apollo as it tries to shore up its balance sheet following a run of setbacks.
Ørsted and the US private capital group are discussing a deal for a 50 per cent share of the £8.5bn Hornsea 3 wind farm off the east coast of the UK, according to people familiar with the matter.
The 2.9-gigawatt project is one of eight offshore wind farms Ørsted is trying to finish building around the world amid higher costs, supply-chain strains and political disruption that have stretched its finances.
The Danish company has said it wants to raise at least DKr35bn ($5.5bn) combined from the sales of Hornsea 3, a stake in an offshore wind project in Taiwan and its European onshore wind business.
The Copenhagen-listed group is also raising in the region of DKr60bn from shareholders in a rights issue, having failed to sell a stake in its Sunrise Wind project off the US east coast.
Investors have been spooked by Donald Trump’s hostility to the sector, spurred by the US president’s long-standing animosity towards wind turbines, although political sentiment in Europe is more favourable.
Ørsted launched the Hornsea 3 sale process late last year and said in August that it had a preferred bidder for the stake, without revealing who this was. People familiar with the matter now say the negotiations are with Apollo, the New York-based firm that manages more than $800bn.
Apollo has been an active dealmaker in European energy infrastructure, including a move this month with RWE to invest in Germany’s electricity grid and $4.5bn in financing announced in June for the UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear energy plant.
Ørsted traditionally sells stakes in offshore wind projects to raise funds for the next ones, although this model has become more challenging due to the Trump administration’s hostility to the sector as well as higher interest rates.
It sold stakes in four UK offshore wind farms to the Canadian infrastructure investor Brookfield for about £1.7bn last year.
A sale of Hornsea 3 would be a further boost for Ørsted in a week when it persuaded a US judge to lift a Trump administration order to stop work on its Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island.
Yet Ørsted’s problems are not all connected to the president, and the company was suffering even before he returned to power, with rising costs and supply-chain strains buffeting the entire industry.
Ørsted had to walk away from two projects in the US in 2023 and has halted development of another UK scheme, Hornsea 4, blaming higher costs and the risks of construction delays.
Ørsted and Apollo declined to comment.