A major Canadian investment fund has emerged as a key backer for the private equity-backed takeover of Australia’s MMA Offshore.
Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) was named as one of a group of co-investors in the takeover deal by Cyan Renewables.
AIMCo is said to be one of Canada’s largest and most diversified institutional investment managers, with more than CAD 160.6bn ($116.2bn) of assets under management.
The company, which opened a new office in Singapore late last year, invests globally on behalf of pension, endowment, insurance and government funds in the Canadian province of Alberta.
“AIMCo is pleased to expand our partnership with Seraya [Partners, Cyan's main investor] to collaborate on this exciting opportunity to build next-generation infrastructure in Asia,” said Ben Hawkins, AIMCo’s executive managing director, global head of infrastructure, renewable resources and energy transition.
“Cyan is strategically positioned to benefit from the growing offshore wind and marine protection sectors, and this acquisition positions it as an important catalyst in the ‘blue-to-green’ transition of this space.”
On Thursday, Cyan confirmed that the AUD 1.1bn ($702m) deal to acquire MMA Offshore had been completed.
“This transaction marks the region’s largest take-private deal in the offshore wind energy services industry, strengthening Cyan’s position in the Asia Pacific region and underscoring the sector’s crucial role in achieving net-zero goals,” the company said.
James Chern, managing partner and CIO of Seraya Partners, said: “The new deal is transformative and reflects our ability to build and create platforms from scratch, spanning from Asia to Europe.
“With Cyan's acquisition of Sentinel in the UK and now MMA in Australia, we are rapidly establishing world-class leaders in new, fast-growing sectors.”
Cyan said it plans to retain MMA’s workforce, leveraging and expanding its expertise, assets, and operating model to “further penetrate the offshore wind support services market globally and in Asia”.
Cyan said it will actively pursue further growth opportunities through mergers and acquisitions and organic expansion.
The deal comes amid increasing demand to adopt renewable and clean energy, with global clean energy capacity needing to triple by 2030 to meet net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency.
Cyan said the wind farm market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 21.4% over the next decade.
“At the same time, the global demand for vessels in the offshore wind sector is expected to outpace supply significantly, particularly as the average turbine size has increased, with some projects now planning to install turbines as large as 15 MW,” it added.
