Masdar to launch clean-tech fund

By Andrew England in Abu Dhabi
Published: June 27 2009 03:00

Masdar, Abu Dhabi's renewable energy initiative, plans to launch a new clean-technology fund this year with capital of at least $250m as it seeks out investment opportunities created by the global economic turmoil.
Sultan al-Jaber, Masdar's chief executive, told the Financial Times that its existing $250m venture capital fund launched in late 2006 with Credit Suisse, Consensus Business Group and Siemens has already fully deployed its cash.
The new fund will be either the same size, or slightly larger, and will be launched in the fourth quarter, he said. He declined to name the new fund's partners.
Masdar is at the core of oil-rich Abu Dhabi's ambitious plans to become a global leader in renewable energy technology and it acquires strategic stakes in clean-tech companies - either through its funds or direct investments - to transfer technology to the emirate, as well as tap into the commercial benefits of renewable energy.
"We have always had an ambition to be a serious global player in this field and I believe there is an opportunity that we need to capitalise on which will help accelerate us become a real player in the market, by us having more stakes and more positions in different technologies around the world," Mr Jaber said.
Over the next five years, Masdar, which was launched in 2006 with $15bn capital, is likely to invest between $1.5bn and $2bn in stakes in companies.
The entity, which is wholly-owned by Mubadala, a government investment vehicle, has already been identifying potential investments in medium-sized companies across the US, Europe and Asia and is currently doing due diligence on a shortlist of companies, he said.
The size of the clean-tech funds investments range from $2m-$12m, but the acquisitions currently being looked at would require investments ranging from $50m to about $200m, Mr Jaber said, suggesting Masdar would invest directly in those companies.
Since its launch Masdar has directly invested $820m in clean-tech companies, including acquiring a 46 per cent stake in WinWinD, a Finnish wind turbine manufacturer. It also has a 20 per cent stake in a joint venture with Eon and Dong Energy to develop the London Array offshore wind farm.
It plans to invest $2bn in plants manufacturing solar power technology with its first facility, which is based in Germany, scheduled to begin production in October. A second Abu Dhabi-based plant is expected to begin production in January 2011, Mr Jaber said.
At the centre of Abu Dhabi's plans is the creation of the $22bn Masdar City, which has a target of being carbon-neutral while generating 70,000 jobs and, housing 40,000 residents when it is fully operational.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009