NORWAY: Deep Wind Offshore shareholders look ahead to fresh equity raise

The owners of Norwegian offshore wind developer Deep Wind Offshore are in the latter stages of running a tender for advisors to raise further equity for the business, it is understood.

The group, which is aiming to build out some 10 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2032, in early autumn 2023 brought on board Octopus Energy Generation as a minority co-investor to bolster its existing shareholder base of Norwegian shipping and utilities groups Knutsen OAS, Hagaland Kraft and Sunnhorland Kraftlag.

However, the DWO shareholders are now preparing an additional equity raise for the business, with either the sale of a minority or majority stake mooted to be possibilities, and will in the coming days select a pair of financial advisors to oversee the process, according to market sources.

Under current timelines, the company’s backers are aiming to conclude a deal before the end of 2024.

The new raise – which is anticipated to eclipse the several hundred million Norwegian Krone quantum raised via the divestment to Octopus - will provide further funds to drive the company’s development activities, which include interests in Norway, Sweden and South Korea.

Deep Wind’s model centres on entering JVs at country level, which has resulted in partnerships with EDF in Norway and BP in South Korea, while it is currently running a search for a JV partner in Sweden.

As such, DWO’s shareholders have to date had a preference for bringing in financial co-investors, as the entry of a strategic player at topco level could jeopardise the group’s ability to combine with similar entities on projects in various markets.

In Norway, Deep Wind is planning a bid for the 1.5GW Utsira Nord offshore wind project. The tender had originally been set to take place in the latter part of 2023, but in late March the Norwegian government announced that it was pushing the competition back to 2025.

Deep Wind Offshore was advised by Arctic Securities on its 2023 capital raise.

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