Peel Energy sells £50m Scout Moor stake

PEEL Holding’s energy business has sold a 50% stake in its Scout Moor wind farm business to private equity firm HgCapital in a deal understood to be worth more than £50m.

Peel Energy, which was advised by the Manchester office of NM Rothschild, said it expected to team up with London-based HgCapital, which has invested through its renewable power fund, on other projects.

Scout Moor near Rochdale, which opened in 2008, has 26 turbines producing 65MW of electricity, enough to power about 40,000 homes. It is the biggest onshore wind farm in England.

Owen Michaelson, chairman of Peel Energy said: “We are delighted to have concluded a partnership agreement with HgCapital at Scout Moor Wind farm.

“It has been a pleasure working with the team at HgCapital and we are very pleased to now have a financial partner in HgCapital who shares our vision for the delivery of low carbon energy projects in the UK.

“We have an ambitious development pipeline for wind and other low carbon energy projects in the UK and we look forward to working with HgCapital on future transactions and developments.”

Tom Murley, head of HgCapital’s renewable energy team, commented: “In Scout Moor, we are now part of the largest onshore wind farm in England.

“We look forward to working with Peel Energy on future projects where we believe our firms’ respective skills are highly complimentary.”

The Manchester office of Deloitte also advised on the deal.

Peel is also in talks with investors to sell a stake in its airports business, which includes Liverpool John Lennon.