QIA could end up acquiring around 9% of RWE for EUR 2.4 bn: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund — Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) — invested EUR 2.4 bn in major German utilities provider RWE in a debt-to-equity swap that will eventually see QIA own 9.09% of RWE. RWE made the announcement yesterday.

What’s RWE going to do with the proceeds from the transaction? RWE plans to acquire 100% of US renewable energy developer Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses in a USD 6.8 bn transaction (that’s about 11x EBITDA, for you finance nerds out there), RWE said in a separate statement. The sale would double RWE’s renewables portfolio in the US to more than 7 GW of operating assets and expand its pipeline in the US to more than 24 GW in onshore wind, solar and batteries projects. It would also make RWE as the second-largest solar operator in the US.

RWE thinks the transaction can be completed in 1H 2023 if it gets its regulatory ducks in a row. The transaction announcement goes deeper into the mechanics if you want to nerd out over the details.

QIA is on a European green shopping spree: The QIA recently invested EUR 250 mn in Paris-based biotech company Innovafeed, we previously wrote. In 2020, the fund announced it would no longer deploy new investment in hydrocarbons, and as of 2021, almost 50% of the infrastructure power generation projects in its portfolio are “zero-emission investments”, according to The Peninsula Qatar.